Originally published on 31 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working in Japan! I’m home! After one last Sushi Lo supper on Saturday, I turned in my bike and waited at the school for Mrs. Koda to pick me up. She came about 7:15 or…

Originally published on 29 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad in Japan! Today I woke up early to talk to Mom online and get to the beach one last time. Next time I talk to my family, it’ll be in the flesh!…

Originally published on 29 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my time living and working abroad in Japan! Is it really the last day? Yes! Yes it is! The past 3 days since I got back from Tokyo have been relaxing, wonderful, and memorable. On Thursday, I turned in…

Originally published on 27 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad in Japan! On my next day in Tokyo, I got up and got to walk the dog with Mr. Fujita. That was fun. And when we got back, I got to have…

Originally published on 27 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad in Japan! And now I’m back from Tokyo! The train ride there was quite a feat. It took 7 1/2 hours and 4 train changes with only 3 to 8 minutes etween…

Originally published on 23 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer abroad living and working in Japan! Time for the much-anticipated Third Year Death Ceremony! Mrs. Koda’s mother came to ride to the ceremony with us. She’s cute and looks just like Mrs. Koda. We got in…

Originally published on 23 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad teaching English in Japan! Wow, there’s so much to say about the past 2 days! At work yesterday (after having a week to cool off from the incident with Yuri, it wasn’t…

Originally published on 21 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad in Japan! Hello again! Now to continue with Quick Whit’s Grand Adventure. Today I went back to Nagoya. It’s only an hour and a half trip, so I thought that’d be nice after…

Originally published on 21 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first summer abroad while living and working in Japan! Well hello! I hope everyone’s had a good week. Let me know what you’re up to! Yesterday I went to the Shingu Shrine at the recommendation of the…

Originally published on 19 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad, teaching English and living in Japan! Hey there! So here’s the latest since my last e-mail. I went to Pearl Island again to see the Mikimoto Memorial Hall that we didn’t get to see before.…

Originally published on 16 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad, living and working in Japan! It’s been a good day! Yesterday’s festival and fireworks were fun to watch. It was my little 4th of July on the 15th of July! I talked to Mom…

Originally published on 15 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” about my summer living and working abroad in Japan! Well hello. I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start! Just thought I’d update you a little. Work went well enough this past week, up until Friday, my…

Well hello! I hope everyone’s having a great week. Mine’s been pretty good so far… and tomorrow (Friday) is my last day of work! Hooray! So Monday was a good day. My break time got changed, so that was a little annoying, but Yuri was in a good mood, so that made the whole day seem better. I…

Originally published on 10 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer living and working abroad in Japan! Onward to the Nemo Nu Sato Resort! We got there at the last 30 minutes of the lunch buffet, but there was still plenty to go around. It was all very…

Originally published on 10 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first summer abroad in Japan. Boy, do I have things to tell y’all! Yesterday was as close to ideal as I can think of. We started off going to the Mikimoto Pearl Island, continued on to a health…

Originally published on 7 July 2006. This post os part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my summer working abroad in Japan! Kon-nichiwa! School has gone better the past couple of days. We had our second teacher training on Wednesday. I was sort of dreading it because I had to give a demonstration of part…

Originally published on 5 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad to teach English in Japan! Hello! I hope everyone’s had a wonderful 4th of July. I celebrated here in Japan by wearing my Braves t-shirt and some star socks my family sent to…

Originally published on 3 July 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad to teach English in Japan! Hey there! I hope everyone’s had a good weekend and you’re all looking forward to July 4th! Eat something grilled and watch the fireworks for me! Yesterday’s escapade…

Originally published on 30 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad working in Japan! Well Hello! I hope everyone’s having a good week and you’re looking forward to the weekend! I went to Nara yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and the town was absolutely gorgeous!…

Originally published on 26 June 2006. This post os part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad to teach English in Japan! Today we went yukata shopping! Mine’s very pretty, but you’ll have to wait till I wear it for the festival to see it! We didn’t try on the whole…

Originally published on 26 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever solo trip to teach English in Japan! Hi there all. The past few days have been up and down, so I’ll just hit the highlights for you. We (the Americans) got the silent treatment at…

Originally published on 23 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first trip abroad living and working in Japan! Kon-nichiwa! It’s been a poopy past couple of days, but I have things to look forward to, and it will get better. I’m determined it will. I had fun…

Originally published on 20 June 2006. This post os part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever solo trip abroad–to Japan! Hello all! If you were hoping it would rain yesterday so I’d stay inside and not have interesting experiences with which to fill your inbox… you’ll be sorely disappointed! Yesterday was positively…

Originally published on 18 June 2006. This is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad–to Japan! Konbanwa! (Good evening!) For those of you in the USA, Ohayo Gozaimasu! (Good morning!) Today was a unique experience! I started out doing laundry and ended up going out for sushi with Mr. Koda’s “Drinkin’…

Originally published on 16 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever solo trip to Japan! School has gone well the past couple of days! I’m really trying my best to do everything right, and Yuri’s feeling better, so I think she’s been more willing to overlook some…

Originally published on 14 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” from my first every trip abroad to Japan. So, I woke up to overcast skies on my day off on Monday, but I’d prayed it wouldn’t rain because I’ve really REALLY wanted to go back to Naiku (the Inner Shrine). After catching…

Originally published on 13 June 2006. This post is part of a series about my first ever solo trip to Japan! Yesterday I gave Yumi and Yoko (two of our Japanese English teachers) an English lesson. It was pretty fun because we read “The Legend of John Henry” and “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed.” I grabbed a couple…

Originally published on 13 June 2006. This post is part of a longer series of posts about my first ever solo trip to Japan! So my internet is up and going again. I was so relieved when we got it working again! Not being able to talk to my family and write y’all some long e-mails was…

Originally published on 8 June 2006. This post is part of a longer series of posts about my first ever solo journey to Japan! Hello there. Yesterday was beautiful outisde, but it was a frustrating one at work. Apparently there’s lots of stuff my colleague, Anna, and I have done wrong. We were told the other day that we’re…

Originally published on 7 June 2006. This post is part of a longer series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad to Japan! Ohayo-gozaimasu! (Good morning!) Time for more of Quick Whit’s World Travels. I forgot a couple of things about Sunday in Tokyo, so here are a couple more stories! Before we went to…

Originally published on 6 June 2006. This post is part of a larger series of “e-mails to home” from my first ever trip abroad–to Japan! So I woke up on Sunday and read my Bible. I miss real church with other people. I’ll be glad to go to a service when I get home. I got…

Originally published on 6 June 2006. This post is part of a series of “e-mails to home” that I wrote during my first ever solo summer abroad living and working in Japan! Hello to all! I have officially conquered Tokyo with the help of Mrs. Fujita and her amazing family. I hopped the morning train (6:48am) from…

Originally published on 2 June 2006. This post is part of a series of e-mail “letters to home” from my first ever solo trip abroad to beautiful Japan! I decided Wednesday night to go to Kyoto again on Thursday. That’s about as spontaneous as I get–I change plans the night before! I figured I ought to use…

Originally published on 2 June 2006. This post is part of a series of e-mails home from my first ever solo trip abroad, Japan! Next up: Kyoto! Yoko and I went to Kyoto to see a big temple.We took two trains and walked a loooooong way up hill (but it was a wonderful workout!) to get…

Originally published on 2 June 2006. This post is part of a series of e-mails to home from my first solo summer abroad in Japan! Hello again! So I rode to Osaka with Yoko in her car. It’s a 2.5 hour trip with several tolls along the way. It’s expensive for her to go home!…

Originally published on 2 June 2006. This post is part of a series of e-mails to home from my first ever solo trip abroad: Japan! Well hello there! My travels have been pretty good so far, and I’m not done yet! Follow along with me… Monday, I went to Nagoya. This was the first time I’d…

Originally published on 29 May 2006. This blog post is part of a larger series about my first ever trip abroad–solo to Japan! Well, hello once again! The trip to Nagoya was ok. I feel pretty accomplished for taking the train and all that all by myself, but I was disappointed in myself for not venturing…

Originally published on 29 May 2006. This blog post is part of a larger series about my first ever trip abroad to Japan! Kon-nitchiwa once again! I have a big week ahead of me, and I thought of some things to tell y’all before I start in on the big travels. First of all, I love…

Originally published on 27 May 2006. This is part of a series of posts about living and working in Japan–my first trip solo and abroad! Kon-nitchiwa! (Hello!) I hope everyone’s having a great week. I decided now’s as good a time as any to tell you about working at the school, since so many of you…

Originally published on 23 May 2006. This is part of a series of letters to home that I wrote while living and working in Japan on my first trip abroad. So I had the day off yesterday (a pleasant surprise). I decided I needed to explore and kinda see what’s here. Well you’d never believe all…

Originally published on 22 May 2006. This is part of a series of posts from my time living and working in Japan in 2006. Boy, do I have things to tell y’all! I’ve really missed being able to go to church while I’m here, but I know God’s with me all the time, and He provided a…

Originally published 19 May 2006. This post is part of a reminiscent series of e-mail letters I wrote to my friends and family during my summer teaching English in Japan. Hello all! I hope everyone’s having a great week. Let me know what’s going on over in your side of the world. Here’s what’s happening on…

Originally published 16 May 2006. This is part of a series of e-mail letters I wrote home during my summer teaching English in Japan! Hi everyone! We just got internet in the apartment yesterday, so now I can write to you! Well, Japan is beautiful. The food is awesome–I get to eat sushi every day! However, my…

My readers, I’m about to let you in on something life-changing, Earth-shattering, and mind-broadening. At least it was for me. Just over 10 years ago I was 20 years old, fearless, and in search of adventure outside of my tiny little hometown in Tennessee. An opportunity to live and work in Japan practically fell into…