I've been wondering for a while where Mark works, as in what type of school or business. Is it a junior high school or a conversation school, or something else?

And how did you end up in Nagano?

Ah!

Let's make it a game. We'll see if someone else knows the answer...

If I remember correctly, you're teaching at your own school

and at a college or university as well

I think that you mentioned working in the medical field and also taught English. I think that you are back in the States now but I can't clearly remember.......

I'm sorry Mark! I was thinking of someone else. I think that you are on year seven or eight at this time and you are in Japan. At one point you didn't consider living here (Japan) at all....

If his flashcards were mainly typewriters/computers, wads of money, different currencies, etc, then I'd guess that he worked in a business school. But his cards are geared toward kids, and they're very general, portraying lots of adventures, so maybe he works for a special Japanese school teaching languages to kids? :smt102

I've been following Mark a lot (more like a stalker) kidding there!
As far as I remember Mark is teaching at his own school in Nagano plus he's also teaching at a nursing school. He is a pharmacist. (got one big question there. "Why nursing college?" Did I get it wrong? Do all the nurses need to speak english?)
And the most important thing is no matter how busy he is with his job and his family (mind you guys his got 2 great kids and a lovely japanese wife) he finds the time to make all these flashcards and all the things that I've been printing for free (yeah yeah I know got to do something in return for Mark)

yf1219 knows a lot! So, if Mark is a pumkin & watermellow-carving pharmacist, from Oklahoma, and now is in Nagano, how did he get there in the first place? Was he searching for some mysterious ingredient contained only in a Naganoan herb to heal some exotic Oklahoman disease?

A few people are close but nobody has gotten it.

I would have bet that yf1219 was correct, but I guess he missed something, as Mark said no one got it correct yet.

Also, I was wondering how he got in Nagano. I would guess the JET program.

One other thing is, if he does have his own school, what is it called?
Mark's EIKAIWA KYOSHITSU?

I think I've cracked the nut, but I'm the last in line at our house for the computer so I won't have time to write down the details today.
If only I still had my talking homing pigeon! She could have flown all over the world and given you guys the scoop on MES Mark. She couldn't speak Japanese, but she had the best smoke signals for all those of us who can more easily decipher smoke signals than Japanese.
In any case, I think I've uncovered the hidden mystery behind who this Mark-fellow really is. Maybe tomorrow?

There are 2 solid ways to find out about me and one more possiblity. I actually had gotten on to unravel the mystery but I'll wait and give ktupper her shot at it.
MES-Mark?

Sorry Zanshin! I know you asked this long ago... But you will have your answer soon.

Here’s the scoop on Mark, a history of good and bad guys, villains and feds, scientists and stow-aways, cauldrons, concoctions...

Assuming Mark is the pharmacist he claims he is, the rest is cake.

1. The Crime:
For years Mark worked his 9-5 hour day shift, taking home his measly pay, and dreaming dreams of becoming the world’s next Einstein. His nights he spent huddled over his cauldron in his underground laboratory, concocting steamy potions for a new product he was experimenting on, namely, The Perfect Body Pill. These strange things he has eaten, --- crickets and frogs, etc, ground chicken beaks and a eunuch’s you-know-whats, and finally snail slobber to make it all go down more easily --- were simply the ingredients in his experiments, which proves he has a degree of courage and moral integrity, testing his product on himself before trying it out on others. Now, these others I believe to be good-hearted, gullible nurses in Oklahoma who harbored hopes of having that perfect body someday. (Americans are eagerly duped into trying anything for physical beauty) They were suckers for Mark’s persuasive character. He pulverized his product. Finally, he started distributing his under-the-counter tablets and illegally raked in millions of bucks. Millionaire MES Mark.
Unfortunately, someone was on to him, one of the Good Guys, who tipped off the Feds, and suddenly Mark found himself a wanted man.
Now, I think two of these Good Guys might be
• yf1219 coz he has already admitted he is stalking Mark, (quote: “I’ve been following Mark a lot (more like a stalker”).
I imagine Mark’s on to him coz he is this trench-coated, sunglassed, widebrimmed hatted, shifty-eyed fella hot on Mark’s heels;
and perhaps this
• Forum Member Dr. T, ex-Director of Mark’s local hospital, who may have tried the pill him/herself and is out for revenge.

2. The Escape:
Now he needs to flee Oklahoma fast. He gets this crazy notion in his head that if he could only make to Japan, he could mingle in with the multitudes, and no one would guess that he is an American (Geography was never his strength). One foggy night, he sets sail on the Nagano Queen, stowed-away in the bowels of a pickled herring barrel, surviving on crunching fish bones and sucking the vinegar (which explains everything. Hence, his affiliation with Jesus, his desire to depict the man, even if his only material is a watermelon). After three weeks of jouncing, bouncing seas, they land on Japan’s coast, the barrel bursts its seams, and Mark rolls out of his seafaring cocoon.

3. The Metamorphosis... or the Metamorphoses:
Six foot four, Caucasian Mark deboats and is astounded to discover that he’ll have a more difficult time masquerading as Japanese than he had presumed he’d have. It’s amazing the FBI didn’t detect him straight-away at customs, but perhaps it says something about Bush’s teams’ intelligence level: Dahhhhhhh.... (don’t panic, I won’t start getting political).
What I couldn’t figure out all along is how many-talented this guy is. So many gifts which us normal planet-pacers haven’t been endowed with. Average Oklahoman pharmacists can’t crank out artistic flashcard after flashcard, fulfilling each and every wish and whim. I think when Mark realized he couldn’t pawn himself over as a native Japanese, he quickly married an amazing person who is indeed the mastermind behind MES English. Mark’s still living off the fat of his Perfect Body Pills, and offering those flashcards to us for free, bless his pharmaceutical heart.
Unfortunately for Mark, the effects of the ship’s vinegar are starting to ebb, and he’s tipping and slipping back into his old habits: Beware! He is setting up schools for nurses in Japan, eating strange foods again, etc.
Any Forum Members who know Mark’s true identity are obviously accomplices.
And who knows, maybe he has really succeeded in taking on a new identity. Maybe Mark’s not a Mark at all, but a Mandy? A Mary? A Meg? A Mildred?

I like that and I might just go with that. Except that...

They were 14 hour days, 8:00-10:00. Where my supporting technicians were hopefully high school graduates. And the fat pill that I generally recommended to people was exercise. It generally went over pretty well.

Customer: Excuse me which of these diet pills is better?
Pharmacist-Mark: None of them. If you really want to lose weight, you'll need to exercise regularly and keep doing it forever.
Customer: Well, how about this one.
Irrate-Mark whose work is now piling up: Despite the fact that the active ingredient is only a nasal decongestant that has a side effect that affects only 1 in 8 of slightly curbing your appetite, it also has the effect of speeding up your heart possibly causing serious damage later in life. I'm still going to go with 'exercise.'
Customer: I think I'll try this one (holding earlier product.)


yf1219 is still in the shadows at this point but it never fails that everytime I see a post from him (or her) I wonder if 12/19 isn't his birthday.

Obviously soured at some point from what would seem like a nice job from the outside, I did head to Japan. Did I mention they were 14 hour days? Also, have you ever gone to a pharmacy and it was closed for lunch? No? That's because they don't close for lunch or dinner. 14 hours straight! 3 days on 2 days off. 2 days on 3 days off. The time off was nice though. Too bad I wasn't making web sites then. Oh, the time I wasted.

Other than that and the 6'4" part, ktupper was pretty close.

For any more information on me you can check out the about link. I also did an interview over at eslTeachTalk.com where I spill all the beans about how I ended up in Japan and how MES-English.com started.

If you don't want the mystery to end, do not follow either of those links. I'm not going to...

That is very funny!

I know what you mean about people's resistance to exercise. I sometimes wonder if all these customers in these gigantic supermarkets, the ones driving those battery-charged carts, are really handicapped. Can it be possible? Or is it that our knees give out coz so many people are becoming so incredibly overweight?

Well, I can't get eslTeachTalk.com. The audio section doesn't open. And I won't sneakapeek in the "about" section coz I'm awaiting yf1219's juicy report, but (s)he must have gotten all wrapped up in his/her concealed microphone cord. "Doggone these new-fangled gadgets", I hear him/her snarling! "just when I was on the brink of a major breakthrough."

You should have been a pharmacist in our two-car town in Austria. They open at 8 or so, close at noon for almost three hours for a siesta , unlock the door for from 3-5:30, and close from Sat noon till Monday. By the way, you have no icons for "mad scientist", do you?

Nope, I think I prefer you as a teacher, a pumpkin carver, a whacky webcreator......