Snorkeling at Mizugama

Recently I went snorkeling at a new spot: Mizugama (`Water Town`). Here are a couple pictures. The second one was really murky and when I tried to clean it up, all these crazy colors came out! Three cheers for the rainbows of water and the sea! It was fun to swim around in the middle of a school of fishies.



Now, to change the subject entirely (just because I don't have anywhere better to put this information) it recently occurred to me that I think I forgot to tell you about Constipation sensei`s parting remarks at the teacher`s Farewell Party in march.

The school year ends in March here. In Japan, both students AND teachers rotate in and out of the system. Teachers don't land a job and stay there throughout their careers. Instead, they rotate schools on a 3-7 year cycle (when you re a younger teacher you have to rotate every 3 years, later you get to stay up to 7 years in one place). So my good friend the English teacher who made me shout `constipation!` in front of class was sadly rotated out to a different school. At the farewell party each of these 20-odd teachers had to give a speech. Now, we`re all sitting in a fancy hotel with suits and ties on. Keep that in mind. Sensei gets up and begins his speech. The beginning is boring and formal. Suddenly he says (roughly translated into English),

for my last two years at Ginowan High, I was sick. Two years ago, they made me be Discipline Teacher. This caused an extreme amount of stress for me as I was never allowed to smile and had to pretend to be mean and shout at children all day long. During this time, I developed diarrhea. Yes, diarrhea. And this last year, it didn't go away because I am still stressed. The kids are so bad. So, I have had diarrhea for my last 2 years at Ginowan High. But now I am leaving!!!!
Thank you.

Oh, that guy cracks me up. I clapped extra loud for him.