My shoulders hurt. For some reason, all desk chairs I have found here do not offer adequate back support. I am taking advantage of the empty staff room at the junior high and surfing to my heart's content although it is killer on my back.

There's not much to do here at school. Monday was cleaning day, where all the students come in (although they still had two weeks of summer vacation) and clean the school. Most of the students come in to school anyways to participate in their club activities, which I guess know no break. Anyways, on Monday I had to give a short little speech introducing myself to all the teachers and students. For the last couple of weeks I was being taught Japanese by the staff/teachers at the Chiran community centre, and one of them gave me a little speech to memorize to say in front of the teachers. I tried to translate it into English for my own understanding, which ended up confusing me more.

My speech was:

Watasi ha minasanni eigo o osiemasu
Minasanwa watasini nihongo de hanasite kudasai
hayaku nihongo o oboete otomodatini naritaidesu
Nihon no bunkaya rekisio osietekudasai

When I tried translating it, this is what spewed out:

I give three Ei ending of a word./I teach you its English tail.
Everyone must speak to passing by three harmony in Japanese.
A Japanese tail wants to be remembered and to be made friends early.
Please teach the culture and the history tail of Japan.

Does anyone have any idea what the hell that means? Me neither. I asked my supervisor, and after many blank looks and wild hand gestures, I think I got the basic gist:

I am the new English teacher.
Please speak to me slowly in Japanese.
I really want to learn Japanese.
Please teach me about Japanese culture and history.

I guess I'm the tail?