Burning rubber (though it smells like skin) in California

The day after I finished up at Watertown Middle School I boarded a plane bound for sunshine. It had been raining all week in New England, so the trip was a welcome respite from the dreary drizzle and darkened dower skies. According to my grandparents, with whom I am staying for two weeks, June in San Diego is “June Gloom.” As I look outside I can clearly see where the month gets its name in San Diego. There isn’t a cloud in the sky and it’s 70 degrees. Quite gloomy. Wait…Apparently June Gloom only lasts two or three days. The rest of the month is just about as perfect as can be. If this is June Gloom, I’ll take it any day of the week. (Did I remind you of the fact that it is still raining in New England?)

I have woken up to this dreary sight every day for three days now!

Such a gloomy view!

I have spent the past two days on the beach with my brother and his girlfriend who are visting here as well for a few days before they head on over to Hawaii for a week. I’m generally not much of a beach person, but I could probably get used to the life style. My skin would have to adjust to the sun a bit, (looking down I see my cooked lobster colored arms glaring back at me) but in general it’s a good life. The water, as the bulletin board next to the lifeguard station noted, was 67 degrees today. Quite an agreeable temperature. There were 2-3′ waves as well, which apparently makes it a poor surf day. A frowny face made that perfectly clear on the previously mentioned bulletin board. These 2-3′ waves looked more like 8-9′ to me, though. As most of you know, I’m quite a tall fellow. My brother is quite a taller fellow. These waves were quite a bit taller than our tallest tall. (score for using an adjective, comparative, and superlative form all in the same sentence!) The rip tides were pretty nasty. I think this is a result of the short beach, but nevertheless it made for some entertaining body surfing. If by entertaining I mean death defying, of course. Perhaps it’s possible to have a both entertaining and death defying time. I quit after being sucked in and under twice with my mouth and eyes wide open. My brother was braver, staying in for an hour or so. Not that sitting on the beach was any less entertaining. Watching young men and women brave the tall waves, lose their bathing suits and scramble to cover up on a fairly continuous basis made for a great spectator sport.

I recognize that I haven’t talked about the JET program in a bit. I did receive more information on what I will be doing in Nakatsu, but as I am on vacation without these documents, I can’t go much more into detail because I simply did not read the information that carefully. I can say that I will be teaching at four elementary schools in Nakatsu, all within 5-25 minutes biking distance from my apartment, to which I received an address. To those of you who understand the way Japanese addresses work, you will know that, in fact, that gave me very little to work with. They’re so confusing! I will give you more on the JET situation as it unfolds. I have been in contact with my supervisor from the Nakatsu Board of Education, but have not posed any further questions. I also have the e-mail address of my predecessor, so I will be initiating contact with him when I get back from California, which will be July 5th.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, and I hope for all of you in Boston that it stops raining at some point this week…I’ve got my fingers crossed.

-D