I'm a Beaver.

Good god.. From a mustang, to a thunderbird... to a freakin' beaver. What kind of school mascot is that.
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Nature Galore: Home Sweet Home

> On our way to Izu.
The truth is, I felt more at home in Izu in the past week than I have in Tokyo all year long. So green, so much nature, such clean air, and oh my, the ocean!! The fact that I had no access to any internet technology actually made it that much more enjoyable.

The so-called "Extended Campus Trip" for the 7th grade used to take place on Miyake Island, one of the smaller islands of the Izu group, directly south of Honshu. My class went to Miyake and I've always remembered to be good times. Unfortunately, its active volcano blew up in 2000, so the 7th grade trip had to be relocated. It was relocated to the tip of the Izu peninsula, in our neighboring Shizuoka prefecture. The week was almost like being back in Vancouver.

So we started on our 4-hour drive to Izu...> A great view of Mount Fuji.

> The allegedly famous spiral bridge.

> Roll those windows down, it's the ocean!!

We arrived on the Yumigahama coast four hours later, welcomed by wonderfully hot weather. Our afternoon activities began - I was assigned to snorkeling. Unfortunately, I dropped my disposable 300 yen camera in the water on my second day while kayaking (more later), so I have no photos of me in the stupid wetsuit and gianormous snorkels.
> The great view from my cabin balcony.

> L to R: Chris Olson and Ben Seevers ('04?) The rest of the 'young' crowd consisted of Laura, John, and Josh. We had too much fun.

Throughout the week, we were all assigned to different activities, through which the 60 kids were rotated through. We snorkeled, recorded tide pool organisms, pressed algae, collected shells, ate stupidly juicy hamburgers, hiked, kayaked, swam with dolphins, and got the low-down on 7th grade gossip. The aforementioned 'young' crowd couldn't believe we were getting paid for this.
> Clear water on a sandy beach collecting shells and algae. Could I really ask for anything more?

> On our third night, we built sand castles in the dark. Our group buried Jeremy and made him into a mermaid. This is us trying to get him out. He was eventually dug out.

> At the aquarium. On our fourth day, I went and swam with dolphins with the kids. Some freaked out but most loved the experience. To me this was waaaay too cool. I took some underwater photos as well - to be uploaded later.

> There were about 7 bottle-nosed dolphins that swam with us.

> The 'Trust' Hike: blindfolded and hiking kids. I was responsible for keeping them from falling off the trail. Come to think of it, what a liability.

> The view from the top, at the end of the hike. Yes, I couldn't get enough of the blue ocean!

> Yumigahama beach, the hangout spot.

> The campfire on the beach on the last night. I had my first smores. Needless to say, the kids did not sleep very early this night.

All in all, it was a great week. I even got a tan, apparently. And I wasn't even eaten up by mosquitoes, which is surprising. These final weeks of school will either fly by, or drone on because I'm back stuck in a windowless room. Come summer, come!!
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The best find all month!

Mallet part to Colas Breugnon Overture. Hidden in the depths of the school's music library! Hells ya.
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Unsettling realities

My to-be graduate school hosts a discussion board for incoming students of the department of government. A recent discussion began about whether Turkey should be included into the EU, and somehow it digressed into a discussion about terrorism. Having just finished teaching a course here on terrorism, I posted an opinion that contended that we need to stop looking at terrorism as just merely evil; that in certain circumstances, with certain actors, violence could be legitimate and sometimes that violence comes in the form of what we call 'terrorism'. I didn't say that violence was good - it is not good, but when there are no other means of adjudicating grievances (as some states don't have such an infrastructure) violence comes as a last resort to draw attention to issues the world doesn't know about. It's very rarely successful, and people should be encouraged to pursue other means of expression. But I think these 'other means' have to be made available before we start condemning them. Anyway, there are a lot of things involved, my point was that it wasn't a clear-cut issue, and I realized that it was not an orthodox suggestion.

A few hours later, two guys (well-educated, they are both from California) contended that all terrorists were simply evil and if we don't kill them, they will kill us. I was accused of being swept-up by a moral relativism of the worst kind, and more.

I guess I've always been used to having people around me who were willing to see multiple sides of the argument, to consider different views and perspectives. Now I see that even if you were educated - and I don't see education as a right, but rather as a privilege - s/he may still not have the ability to put themselves in someone else's shoes. This skill, apparently, is also a privilege, and a gift. I just don't know what I should do with it anymore.
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Magical musical theatre.

Tonight, I went to the school's musical. Whenever I see musicals, I get really excited and have an urgent desire to get involved. Of course, whenever I actually get myself involved, I cringe at the amount of work involved and wince when I realize that I've been talking out the lines to myself by the 4th or 5th run, or when every song gets stuck in my head. But when everything comes together, magic happens and I'm totally drawn in. It's cool.

The school's inauguratory musical performance was The Music Man. Unfortunately, this particular show has never been my all-time favorite. The plot is slow. The story is unoriginal. But what made me stay through the show was the barbershop quartet. Hands down, it was the best part of the show. And the kids were all great - it's just that a different show would've pulled off a bigger party in such an awesome facility.

Still. Pretty good. And I miss playing musicals!
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