ai-ai haiku

2012-01-08T21:21:00.005-06:00

The first week is done.

Japanese, Translation, and
Cinema. Mochi.

My second semester of graduate school!
I've already been making myself pretty busy.. trying to stay on top of things.
My classes this year are 3rd Year Japanese (which should be good because the classroom is nicer and the people are more talkative in this class compared to last semester), a translation workshop (I get to do my own translation project and everyone in class has different language backgrounds so it's a nice change! Also my professor is awesome), and a Chinese & Japanese Cinema class (my professor for this class is also awesome - he always does strange things like show me pictures of his dog or tell me to exercise and strengthen my back). I think it'll be a good semester, work-wise.
But it's also one of my resolutions to stay balanced.. so keeping that in mind.. I've also been watching dramas in between study spells.

Yesterday was a fun day~ It was CJS' annual Mochitsuki Festival. There were lots of really neat things like watching people pound mochi, eating mochi, taiko drumming, storytelling, calligraphy, etc. It's a huge event and it was busy with tons of people. I volunteered and was stationed at calligraphy, so I didn't really get to explore the other events but I got to hang out with kids and my Japanese teachers. It was fun to watch people write characters - I think the worse you are the more artsy it looks and the more personality it has!
For my first calligraphy of 2012, I wrote 春風 - spring wind. I read that this year is going to be a low one for people who are the year of the rabbit, so I want my year to be nice, uplifting, etc like a spring wind.
Then I wrote 嵐　- storm. Because it's cool.. and I like 嵐.

Spring Wind

Thennn we went for our first drinks of the semester. Here's to a good one~

2012-01-02T10:12:00.001-06:00

First post for this year

and last day in St. Louis.
Return to grad school!

2011-12-31T12:00:00.008-06:00

Last post of this year-

let's have a toast and bring in
year 2012.

Sadly I won't be going to any fun parties - it's hard to beat the Group 1 hot tub parties and Tokyo/Osaka clubs of new years past.
But that doesn't mean I'm not excited for 2012!
This post is going to have 2 things.. my top 5 memories from 2011, and my top 5 goals for 2012.

Ok, here goes.. my top 5 memories from 2011:
1) Starting grad school.
2) The last week at Amity & Japan.
3) Solo trip to Nikko, Tokyo, and Fuji-go-ko.
4) Visiting family in Taiwan.
5) Trip to Kyushu.
Runner up - Golden Week in Okinawa

And now.. my top 5 goals for 2012.
1) Balance studying and relaxing better.
2) Cook more.
3) Have a plan for after next semester.
4) Blog more.
5) Work out once a week.

Yay!

2011-12-28T18:55:00.004-06:00

Writing essays for

fellowships and IUC
is not fun on break..

or ever.

So it's been a week since i've come home for winter vacation.
And as usual, I hate to admit it but there are things I need to get done.. like essays and applications for getting funding next year and for going to Japan again. If all goes well.. I'll be able to go back for language study. hopehopehopehopehope.

Also.. I don't have much else to do when my internet is too slow for me to watch dramas.

Have you noticed that i'm trying to write a bunch of posts in the last week of 2011 to make up for overall lack of posts this past year?

2011-12-26T12:10:00.002-06:00

eating and sleeping,
reading and watching tv,
leads to weird dreaming??

Being at home is great, because I get to relax and see my family and do all of the aforementioned activities and more. Of course there are a few school related things I SHOULD be doing.. but i'm getting to it.. :P.

I'm now caught up with my three favorite tv shows, so I've started a new drama. I finished reading Tanizaki's "Naomi", so now I am reading Soseki's "I am a cat".. which is pretty funny in a gloomy i-novel sort of way.

I'm also on my way to saving up fat in my body for the next semester.
But I think all the yummy food and desserts are causing me to have crazy dreams. Last night and the night before i've had strange and vivid dreams.

The first one was mostly just a stress dream about Amity - I'm still having them even 5 months after i've finished working there???? I dreamed that the school had moved to this strange apartment type room due to a flood at the real school. I was writing something in a back room when I heard screaming from the lobby, so I went there and one of my fave students was jumping around on the couches with 2 other kids and cut his hand. So I bandaged him up and then all these people started coming in and out with umbrellas. The end.

The one I had LAST night was the weirdest.
So I dreamed I was about to take a Japanese exam in an auditorium style room. I was sitting down, when the guy to my left stood up, gave me a kiss, and chose a different seat. huh, that was odd. Anyway the test was over in a flash, and I was left in another room with two other people. I think I know them but I don't remember now. Anyway, I took out a magic wand and made flying carpets out of 3 yoga mats. We got on the flying yoga mats and starting flying around in the air. I don't remember where we were going, but I realized that my yoga mat wasn't working properly and I started spinning out of control in midair. I couldn't get total control of it but I managed to stop the falling to a slow circling descent. I realized that I was about to land on an island of dinosaurs and I signaled to my friends to meet me on the island. When I landed on the island, there were a few friendly dinosaurs again. My stomach started to feel funny and I realized that I was going to give birth to twin dinosaurs, one of those kinds with the head crest. I wasn't freaking out as much as I should have been. Anyway, one popped out so my friend (who also gave birth to a dinosaur) and I were taken to a shelter for women who were giving birth to dinosaurs. My room was in the basement and I was hanging out there with my first dino baby which was named Iris, even though it was a boy, and it grew pretty big in just a few hours. I went upstairs to ask them when the second was going to come out but I had to wait since so many other people had questions also. It was weird, the end.

This might mean I have to cut back on sweets.

2011-12-25T14:27:00.003-06:00

A merry Christmas

and a big happy new year~
from Ai-Lin to you!

2011-12-22T15:02:00.011-06:00

My first semester

as a graduate student
has come to an end.

(wrapped up in blankets watching lots of tv shows~)

Alright, i'm back from my (unintentional) three month hiatus caused by the intensity of graduate school life. You didn't miss out on much..

For the most part, I'd go to class, go teach my tutees in Detroit (who are some funny kids!), and spend about 6-12 hours a day studying.. stopping for a fun break or something to eat.
Fridays mean dinner night~ Marc, Paula, and I taking turns to make a meal and relax~
The highlight of October was going to the best haunted house i've ever been to (laughed, screamed, and cried).
In November I was lucky enough to go to Chicago twice; once with my small Japanese handscrolls class with Professor Trede to get a good look at a few amazing works of art in storage at the Chicago Institute of Art, and once again to have an amazing Thanksgiving break with Yuan.
Earlier this month was crazy with all my exams, presentations, and papers (2 twenty page ones).. but I think they all came out fine. I was lucky to have good professors and a pretty great (yet stressful) semester.
Sometimes it snows and sometimes it doesn't, but overall it hasn't been as cold in Ann Arbor as everyone says.. yet.

Now i'm back in St. Louis~ it's nice to not worry about doing work so I can catch up on shows i'm behind on and read.. but since it's so short I should plan it out and not waste (too much) time~

(Autumn in Ann Arbor)

(Our class at the art museum in Chicago)

(Yuan & I in Chicago)

(Winter in Ann Arbor)

2011-09-07T17:45:00.005-05:00

My first few classes
feel challenging but are fun.
AND I got a job!

楽しいが
たいへん。。クラス。
仕事。。ゲット！

So far I've had 2 of my 3 classes. I'm a little stunned by all the information and readings that have been thrown at me by my professors.. but it'll be fun and i'm slowly getting the hang of it.
今まで、三つのクラスの中で二つに出た。先生の説明と宿題の良でちょっとビビッているけど。。きっと楽しくなるし、チョイチョイ慣れてきてると思う。

Today I had my interview with America Reads (it's a tutoring program that aims to increase literacy rates in public schools) for a work study job.. and right when I got home from the interview there was a position offer waiting for me! Score! More kids! More money!
今日、アメリカ・リーズ（家庭教師で、小学生に読み方を勉強させる仕事）でインタビューをして。。アパートに帰ったらオファーがもう待っていました！やった、やった！子供たちと仕事する！お金が入ってくる！

Today was a good day. Time for homework.
今日はいい日でした。でも宿題の時間です。

2011-09-05T22:23:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow begins
real life as a grad student!
Life in Ann Arbor.

明日から
大学院生、アー
ナーバーライフ。

I've now been in Ann Arbor for about 5 days. The first few 2 days were crazy. It was ridiculously hot, I had little time to do more than throw my stuff into what would become my room, and　pretty much non-stop orientation. Followed by 3 days of cooler weather, unpacking, organizing, and enjoying the last bit of laziness I can afford.
アーナーバーはもう五日ぐらいです。最初の二日は激しかった。すごく暑くて、ちゃんと引越しする時間もあんまりなかった上に、長いオリエンテーションがあった。でもその後の三日間は涼しくて、のんびりしながらいろいろ整理できた。

I would say that orientation went pretty well. It was a lot of information, but good information. The people in my program and all the people in CJS (the Center of Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan) are AWESOME. There wasn't a single person I didn't like.. er.. I mean I liked everyone as soon as I met them. I also think that everyone would agree and say that we already seem to get along better and do stuff together more than people in other programs. I'm not gonna lie, but i'm so happy~ since I was being paranoid and worrying about making friends here.
オリエンテーションはうまくいったと思う。情報が多かったけどやっぱり必用だね。私と同じプログラムの人もミシガン大学日本研究センターの方も皆すごいです。皆一人一人会った瞬間から好きだと思った。皆もこう言ってくれると思うけど、このプログラムは他のより仲がいい。ここに来る前に友達ができるかどうか心配してたから、私はうれしい～。

I'd also like to mention that I PASSED the Japanese placement test I was studying so hard-core for since coming back to America. Enter 3rd year Japanese!
ここで一つ言いたいことがあります！日本語の試験合格しました！三年生の日本語授業に出れる！勉強しててよかった！

Ah and my apartment. The outside looks like it could collapse in the event of a tornado or something.. but the inside is bigger than I thought and my ROOM is bigger than I thought, so that's a plus. I think i'll be spending lots of (hopefully) quality study (and sleep) time in here. I'm also having fun planning meals (for now).
私のアパートについて。。外は竜巻でぼろぼろになりそうだけど、中のリビングもベッドルームも意外と広いのでよかった。ここでいっぱい勉強をできて、いっぱい睡眠時間を取れますように願う。ちなみに、今のところはちょっとだけ料理が楽しく感じる。

Classes officially start tomorrow! I'm taking 3 classes this semester (so few compared to undergrad.. but more hardcore?). Japanese III, Visualizing Narratives (a course on traditional handscrolls taught by a visiting professor from Germany), and Modern Japanese Literature. Wish me luck~
いよいよ明日から授業です！今年はクラス三つあります（大学時代より少ないけど、もっと難しいでしょうね）。日本語、と文学。。ともう一つ。頑張ります～

2011-08-30T11:06:00.005-05:00

Goodbye St. Louis.

Tomorrow is the long drive
towards Michigan.

明日ミシガン。
バイ、セイント・ルイス。
ドライブや。

Yesterday Jamie and I had Indian food for lunch. The last time we really hung out was Golden Week 2010 in Korea. I know I say this a lot lately, but it was so nice to see her! I can't believe we've been friends for more than half our lives!
昨日の昼、久しぶりにジェイミーとインドウ料理食べに行った。前あったのは２０１０年のゴルデンウェイ、韓国に行ったとき。最近けっこう言うけど、会ってよかったと思う！

Me & Jamie~

Today is my last day in St. Louis with my family and tomorrow we are driving 8 hours to Ann Arbor. Lots of last minute packing and car stuffing to do! Wish me luck!
今日は家族とセイント・ルイスにいるのは（今の所）最後で、明日８時間ドライブしてアンアーバーに引越しします。もう少し整理しなきゃいけないけど。。がんばります！

OH! And happy birthday to Cicy, Tony, and Arashi's MatsuJun <3 <3 <3!
あ！そしてシーシー、トニー、と嵐のマツジュン、お誕生日おめでとう！

2011-08-28T19:01:00.008-05:00

So nice to see you

WashU folks before moving.
Only 2 days left.

引越し前
会えてよかったよ。
後二日。

Today I went down to the U-City Loop to chill with some WashU folks. I'm so happy that people wanted to come see me after such a long time (and let me talk so much about my exploits). On top of that I got to enjoy a burrito (another first in 2 years)!
今日ワシントン大学の友達に会えに、ユーシティーループに行った。こんなに時間がたったのに、皆会えに来てくれて（私の話いっぱい聞いてくれて）本当に嬉しかった。さらに、ブリートを食べられた（また二年ぶりです）！

Jessi, JimmyK, me

me & JimmyM

Vince, me, Damon

Sarah & me

AND.. WashU has changed so much.. the freshmen this year are so lucky. But it's sad that they'll never experience the delight that was the breakfast burrito of Bear's Den. I hope i'll love UMich as much as I love WashU.
ちなみに、ワシントン大学のキャンパスがすごく変わっていた。。今年の一年生はラッキーですよ。でもベアズ・デンの朝のブリートのおいしさを経験する事をできない子供たちがかわいそう。ミシガン大学の事をワシントン大学と同じぐらいすきになったらいいな。

2011-08-23T11:22:00.003-05:00

What do you think if
I blog half in English and
half in Japanese?

このブログ
半分英語と半分
日本語、どう？

There is a possibility that a few of my friends in Japan look at this.. and it wouldn't hurt to practice Japanese more.. Let's just give it a shot.
日本にいる友達にこれを見てもらう可能性もあるし。。日本語をもっと練習するためにも悪くないし。。とりあえずやって見よう。

Today I'm going to visit WashU for the first time in almost 2 years to visit a professor who has helped me a lot over the years. I hope that I can become someone like that who is so accomplished and so helpful.
きょう、ずっと大変お世話になっていた教授に会えに、ワシントン大学に行きます。二年ぶりですね。私もそういう人になりたい。。

I'm getting hungry so that's all for today. I will leave you with some short videos that I felt were inspiring. MOVE, EAT, LEARN. http://vimeo.com/27246366
おなかすいたからきょうはここまで。感動的なヴィデオを置いておきます。「動く、食べる、倣う。」

2011-08-21T11:11:00.004-05:00

About 10 days left,
and then - move to Michigan!
The days are a blur.

Since coming home to St. Louis i've been readjusting to everything (people, food, time zones, etc.) slowly but surely. I still miss Asia, but it's nice to be home~

I've been getting ready for grad school mostly.. studying Japanese (I gotta get into level 3!), scouring the UMich website, buying all the things I need to buy for moving into a new place.
But I got the chance to hang out with a few people like Tony, JMa, JKhaw, etc. (Hopefully more people this week)
And I've also done a few random things like get my ears pierced (for the first time in my life) and watch a few new dramas.

I think i've talked to almost all my good friends since being back.. if not, please message me and i'll give you my new phone number!
Ah.. nothing makes you feel old like a new cell phone that is too complicated to use and talking about the "good old college/high school days" with people.

To me.. my life in America kind of stood still while I was in Japan.. but things have been moving on for other people.
People getting engaged.. moving to different places.. getting new jobs.. etc. I'm very happy for everyone! And i'm excited to start something new too.

At the same time.. now that i'm in America, my life in Japan kind of stopped.. but of course things will have already changed.
New people working at the school I worked at.. my kids all forgetting about me, people getting married and having babies.. etc. It's just a little harder this way round because I have fewer ways to contact people there and I don't know when i'm going back.

Along those lines.. I found out today that one of my friends in Japan has stomach cancer. I'm still kind of in shock.. I can't imagine him being sick and I can't imagine what it must be like for him now.. but I hope he gets better soon.

2011-08-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

I'm finally back
in St. Louis, Missouri.
What a strange feeling.

I'm TIRED.. but i've got phone calls to make!!!

2011-08-10T04:44:00.016-05:00

Last night in Taiwan.

Bye Asian food and people.
Hey America.

The night of my last post (8/7) we had a huge family dinner. SO MUCH AWESOME FOOD and love. Period.

foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood..

Almost everyone.

The next day (8/8) my mom, my aunt, my cousin, and I took the Taiwanese version of the bullet train (called High Speed Rail) to Tainan, in Southern Taiwan. It's a pretty historic area and has lots of forts and interesting places left over from the Dutch occupation of Taiwan in the 17th century.

Anping Tree house.. a house that was once abandoned and is now overgrown with all sorts of trees.

Eternal Golden Fort.

My cousin and I at Chihkan Tower.

Me @ Chihkan Tower.

Yesterday (8/9) I hung out with Jordan (who's on obon vacation in Japan) and we had an epic, all-day walking memorial/shopping tour of Taipei. We hit up Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, Ximen ding, Taipei 101, Sun Yat-sen Memorial, and Raohe St. Night Market. It was cool and nice to see a friend in Taiwan.

Eating a bag of innards at the night market. yum.

Today (8/10) I went with my aunt's family to Taiwanese karaoke. The building and the whole experience was different from Japan so it was really fun and interesting to see. Also, my family is pretty good at singing Chinese songs. Unfortunately all the English and Japanese songs were SUPER old and it was hard to find stuff I could sing well, lalalaa~ Consensus: it was fun fun but nothing is like Japanese karaoke.

Gah~ my last night in Taiwan. T_T So sad to leave my family~
BUT EXCITED TO GO BACK TO AMERICA!!!!!

2011-08-07T03:32:00.002-05:00

Rainy day again.
Cruising the internet and
getting excited~

No plans in Taiwan today thanks to the typhoon. Just chillin' with grandma.. with the fan on.. listening to the rain.. sometimes studying Japanese.. sometimes taking a nap.. mostly playing on the internet.

While playing around on the internet I realized that i'm actually getting REALLY excited for grad school. Up until now when I thought about grad school I just thought about the horrid application process.. or making decisions.. or getting all the "paperwork" and logistics out of the way. Now that they're pretty much out of the way.. i'm getting excited!
Yay~ I'm going to the Univeristy of Michican~ yay~ go blue~!
Ignoring the fact that I may freeze to death once winter comes and pushing aside the worries that 2 years of not studying will be the end of me.. this is another fresh start!
(Is this the newlywed period???)

I am also excited to see some WashU friends in STL again. Despite how much I love Asia, Oh how i've missed STL - the quiet suburbs, lovely parks and places to play, U-city Loop, WashU, etc.
(See how time makes us all sappy???)

Operation: reintroduce Ai-Lin to America! running smoothly.

2011-08-06T07:12:00.010-05:00

Taiwan~ so lovely~

The days are passing quickly
Just like the typhoons.

It rained quite a bit the last few days, but that doesn't stop us~
Since the last post i've been tasting the foods & buying the merchandise at 2 different night markets as well as Ximen shopping area again. I also played (and won) mah jong with my family, and had a sushi party.

The days are passing quickly indeed. Looking at the calendar I only have less than a week left in Taiwan now.
Soon i'll be in America! I haven't been in America in so longggggg I feel like i'll have reverse culture shock for sure. And I've realized that I NEED to get back in touch with everyone.. since I failed to maintain IN touch with many people. But i'm shy! I know it's silly but.. what if I get rejected?! What if no one wants to hear about my exploits in Asia for the last year and a half?!
*****My friends~ if you're out there and reading this.. please leave me a message! Help me get back in touch! We'll call it.. "Operation: reintroduce Ai-Lin to America!"*****

But first.. just some of the many pictures of food I've taken so far in Taiwan.

Delicious traditional Taiwanese bun thing.

Milk tea with boba at night market #1.

Various delicious dumplings and more.

Lots of awesome shaved ice desserts. Brown sugar with flan. Various tapioca. Taro.
My favorite.
PS - did you know that people who are low in iron often crave ice?

2011-08-02T21:56:00.018-05:00

My time in Taiwan

is spent eating and sleeping..
sometimes other stuff.

I've been in Taiwan for about a week now. I love spending time with my family here - eating, shopping, and relaxing.. sometimes going out to see places. My grandma is very cute and all my aunts and cousins are fun too. I still miss living in Japan.. but honestly I don't miss being super busy at work! It's a nice change.. until I have to be busy again in America.

Most of the stuff I've done this past week isn't really worth mentioning since they're kind of average (and mostly eating).. but I HAVE.. been to the temple.. been to this old historic street and mining area.. been shopping with my cousin.. etc.

Korean BBQ with my mom, 2 aunts, and 2 cousins.

A temple~

Shopping area in Taipei~

An old historic street by a river.. the buildings are built up right up against it. I think there was a lot of mining done around here at that time so this is where the miners might have lived. There is also one house (the oldest) which is the only one made completely of stone and you can see how people lived at that time. It even had a garden and bomb shelter.

My cousin and I at the Dazzling Cafe. Every drink on the menu is adorable and every dessert is honey toast - an epic piece of sweet, delicious toast with loads of sweets on top.

However.. Yesterday I went to Hualien with my mom, 1 of my aunts, and 2 of my cousins. Since we usually stay near Taipei when we visit Taiwan it was new for me!! It's about 3 hours Southeast of Taipei (???) by train and once we got there we hired a taxi driver to be our guide around the area. He took us to lots of really interesting places in Taroko National Park so there were lots of mountains and bridges and cool things like that. It was fun to drive around especially since the area is so beautiful.. but it was also tiring.

My mom and I at the start of our tour of Hualien. Hualien lies on the East side of a large central mountain range.. so there are lots of mountains.

2 of my cousins and I wearing helmets! The area has a lot of rockfall (it used to be quarried for marble) so it's dangerous to be without a helmet.

Going into Swallow Grotto! It's like a tunnel where lots of swallows live, but there is more car traffic now so there aren't as many swallows as there used to be.

Hualien also has a beautiful coastline and a rocky beach! But no one goes swimming.. it's supposedly very deep.

Me enjoying Taiwan~!

2011-07-28T02:29:00.001-05:00

Said "Goodbye Japan"

and now I am in Taiwan.
It's very hot here.

The last 10 days in Japan I moved out of my apartment and moved into a hotel. I was pretty busy for that time and I didn't sleep that much, but it was worth it haha.

7/17 I put on a yukata ALL BY MYSELF (it took an hour, and it turned out pretty great) and went to a matsuri in Nagata with JessicaE and Chihiro. It was EXACTLY what I wanted when I said I wanted to go to a matsuri - girls in yukatas, yummy food stalls, little kids playing games, dancing in bon odori, walking around the shrine lit by lanterns.. all in the summer heat. I had so much fun!

Successful yukata-wearing in my hotel room.

Me, JessE, & Chihiro @ Nagata Jinja's matsuri

The next day (7/18) Asada Manager took me and Yumi to Takarazuka. It's an all female musical theater.. and it's AMAZING. The women who played men were even better than men and everyone's singing and dancing was amazing as well. I can see why the actresses are idolized and why people get so into it. The musical was "Phantom", it's like an alternate story of the Phantom of the Opera. They also have a special revue at the end of the show. At the end.. we were just like.. "wow.." haha. If I lived in Japan I would totally go all the time.

Yumi & I at Takarazuka for "Phantom."

7/19-7/23 was my last week at Amity, and Alex's first week (she's the girl who is replaced me at school). I was happy because she's really nice, the students like her, and I think she got the hang of teaching lessons quickly and handled her first week well.

I was so sad that entire week, saying goodbye to all my students. (I hard core cried twice.) It's hard to believe how close you can get to people in such a short time. I really liked all of them (even the bad ones) and I hope they continue to do well.

Me & my adorable, genuis, Saturday morning Mommy & Me class. Keiichi, Risa, & Iroha.

I also went around Itayado and ate at all my favorite places and met all my favorite Itayado people. I didn't realize how much I love that place until I moved to the hotel in Sannomiya. I kept trying to go back to Itayado instead of staying in Sannomiya haha. I can't believe that just a year and a half ago I thought it was scary and didn't know anyone haha.

Me & Take, my travel agent! Such a great person! And congrats for their new baby!

@ yakitori Haru! Nice guys, nice chicken.

Anywayyyy, 7/23 was my last day at work and afterwards we had a Welcome/Farewell party (at Zen like always). The whole staff has changed during my time at our school but everyone was great and I was sad to say goodbye. I wonder how many of them will still be teaching when I come back to Japan.

Me & Atsue!

Current Kobe Itayado Amity staff @ Zen for the Welcome/Farewell party.

7/24 Rikako and I went to Nara to visit Reiko at her house (Kumi was there too!). It was really fun to visit and talk about stuff since we hadn't seen each other in a while! She looked so happy in her new life too haha.

Rikako, Me, Reiko (plus her adorable dog), and Kumi!

7/25 I got a haircut and then hung out with Ayaka N. for the afternoon. So nice to chill outside of school! Then of course I went back to Itayado for the last time.

Me & Ayaka in Sannomiya.

Me & Rikako @ Carl's. <3 you!!!

@ Carl's. Best food in Itayado and funny too.

@ Retro! Helping me survive Itayado! haha

7/26 I had lunch with Hiroko in Nishi-Akashi and then went to Awaji Island to see Mori Manager and her baby, Aoba! It was SO WONDERFUL to see them finally! And It was a relief to see everyone doing so well!!!

Hiroko & I!

Mori Manager & Aoba & I!

Yesterday (7/27) I finally finished ALL my business and went to Ikuta Shine for the last time to wish everyone luck and that I can come back to Japan soon. Then my uncle took me to the airport. As predicted there were overweight fees and it was kind of a hassle getting all my stuff around.. but I made it! Goodbye Japan, Hello Taiwan.

I did EVERYTHING (and more) that I had dreamed of doing in Japan. I met so many people from all over and feel like I really grew up a little. I also experienced Japan's coldest winter, hottest summer, and biggest earthquake ever. It's been an amazing and life changing year and a half (year and 9 months to be more exact).

Now I am in Taiwan with my mom at my grandma's house. It's much hotter here but the food is AWESOME. YUMYUM, if i'm not careful I will get really FAT! haha.

2011-07-16T09:15:00.006-05:00

So many dinners,

beach parties and goodbyes too.
only one week left.

I've been busy since writing in this blog last!

June 26th I had dinner and karaoke with my dance class! It was so much fun, and I'm glad I made a few Japanese friends. If only we'd hung out sooner, haha.
Then June 29th was my last dance class in Japan. My class was so sweet! They got me a whole bunch of One Piece things as a goodbye gift because they know I love it. I'll miss them~

Ena, me & Ayako @ dance class

The first weekend of July Jordan came to visit me. It was also 4th of July weekend and JessE & I had our goodbye BBQ beach party! It was SO MUCH FUN! We went to the same little beach from last year and we played beach ball and frisbee and some Japanese guys next to us helped us with the BBQ so it was a huge success! We even had sparklers for fireworks. :) It was nice to see everyone and also so sad to say goodbye.

yay beach party~

Last weekend was SUPER busy.
On the 10th I went to the planetarium in Akashi with Yumi. It had a super cool show and a nice view of Akashi so it was really chill. Then we went to Suma beach for her birthday! It was a REALLY hot day but it was nice to be outside. THEN I had dinner with my cousin's family. It was nice to see them.

The next day (the 11th) I had dinner with more family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and I was so happy I got to see everyone.. but also sad that I didn't hang out with them more over this last year and half. But I think it was all good in the end. :) The Chinese food was also AWESOME and I felt so spoiled!! haha.

These last two weeks I've been working HARD packing and cleaning my little studio apartment (my manager is VERY strict about it's cleanliness and the airlines are strict with weight limitations). And FINALLY it's all done and I move out to a hotel tomorrow morning. It still hasn't really hit me yet.

I can't believe that I will meet the girl replacing me tomorrow. And I can't believe that I only have a week left at Amity and with my students and with the other teachers. And I can't believe that in 10 days I will not be in Japan anymore!!!! Crazy~ packing up my life and saying goodbye to Japan is so much harder than leaving America for a while...

2011-06-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

Woke up early and
today was full of surprise.
Could I keep it up?

Today I woke up super early to go to the dentist.
Surprise #1 - I can actually wake up before 10!!! At 8:45 am to be exact. And i'm not tired. Hmm.. I know it's near the end of my time in this time zone but I can still try to turn things around! haha.

Then I went to the dentist.
Surprise #2 - The cavity I thought I had was actually very minor and going to the dentist in Japan was not too bad. Once I found one anyway.. finding one was very annoying.

Then I went to work.
Surprise #3 - A sudden interview and a sudden computer class I had to teach. But it all went smoothly and I can go in half an hour later tmw (which means I can go to my dance class in it's entirety tmw!).
Surprise #4 - That Arashi concert which I thought was my last chance.. is going to be impossible because i'm no longer a member of the fan club and the website it also impossible to get onto.
Surprise #5 - Mori Manager safely had her baby this morning!!!!! So wonderful!!!! Congrats to her and welcome to him!!!!!

Then I went home.
Surprise #6 - This book I borrowed from JessR (The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog) is pretty good and I can't put it down for once! If only I could say the same about studying Japanese. But.. tmw is another day~

2011-06-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

Errands, going out..
very productive weekend.
5 weeks left of work.

2011-06-12T22:07:00.009-05:00

Cross that off the to-

do list. Then add more to it.
6 weeks left of work.

I found out who is replacing me at work. It's kind of a weird feeling. I'm excited to go home but i'm sad to leave! And i'm sure she's excited to come to Japan but sad to leave America?

Anyway~ this post is about my trip to Eastern Japan! My last long vacation in Japan!

So last Saturday night I took the night bus to Tokyo. I arrived at 6:30 in the morning! SO EARLY! But because I got there so early I was able to sneak a second tour of Asakusa's Sensoji before heading off to Nikko. When I went last year it was being renovated so I couldn't see it at a whole, so I got kinda lucky to see it again. Sensoji in the morning is SO different from in the afternoon. In the morning it's really quiet and a quick walk. In the afternoon, it's PACKED with shops and people so it's pretty exciting. Man, Sensoji is so nice. :)

It's a 2 hour ride with tons of old people to Nikko, but it's pretty awesome once you get there.
I filled my tummy with yuba-soba and then toured Toshogu - the main shrine there.
Toshogu is really cool. They have the famous hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys. Not only that, they have tons of beautifully carved and painted buildings. After seeing the monkeys you can see Nemurineko (sleeping cat) and then go up to Tokugawa Ieyashu's tomb. I think he's the guy who tried to conquer all of Japan???? Ahhhh Japanese history fail. Anyway, next to his tomb is a "power spot" - aka a huge and strange tree that will grant your wishes if you pray there.
After that you can go inside the main building where a guy explains some stuff. So Toshogu is decorated with a lot of "kirin" - a mythical creature that is made up of many animals. They say that the kirin will only appear when the world has no war and is completely peaceful. Very interesting~
After thaaaaaaaat you can go see Nakiryu (crying dragon). I think that was my favorite part - it's a room with a huge dragon painted on the ceiling and if you strike two clappers together underneath the eyes the reverberations sound like a crying dragon. Pretty cool I think.

The three wise monkeys.

On the second day I went to Mitaka to visit the Ghibli Museum! IT WAS AMAZING - maybe the best part of the trip. I was like walking through the movies/dreamland, my childhood come to life! The whole place was so interesting and special with lots of rooms where you can see how animation works, original sketches of the movies, story boards, lifesize sets, original movies, etc. SO AMAZING. I think any Ghibli fan should try to go there.

Robot from Laputa!

After that I went to Shinjuku to see a 360 view of Tokyo from the top of the Tokyo Government Building, and marvel at how attractive people are in Tokyo haha.

On the third day I went to the Tokyo National Museum of Art in Ueno Park. They were doing a special exhibit on Sharaku's woodblock prints so I got to see that (so interesting!!!) and the main exhibit of Japanese art. heart art.

Folding screen at Tokyo National Museum

After thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat I took a bus to Fuji-go-ko - it's an area close to Mt. Fuji composed of 5 lakes. I stayed by Kawaguchiko - the biggest lake. I felt like I pretty much had the hotel to myself. So it was fun eating a lot at the buffet dinner and having a long bath in the public bath and drinking tea while watching tv in the tatami/kotastu section of my hotel room. It was kinda scary at night though...
ANYWAY I was supposed to be able to see Mt. Fuji from the hotel but it was so cloudy that day it was pretty hopeless.

The 4th day, it was still cloudy in the morning so I kind of gave up on seeing Mt. Fuji.
I left the hotel and went to Saiko - the next lake over - to visit Iyashi no Sato. It's kind of a traditional village type place and in each house there is something different like a tea house, restaurants, crafts, etc. Mostly handmade crafts. It was really fun. I got to talk to nice old people, and paint my own bell, get some cute hairpins, try on samurai armor... and while I was doing that... MT. FUJI APPEARED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It suddenly got really clear and all the clouds went away and it appeared for about an hour.. just enough time to take lots of pictures!!!!! I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to see MT. FUJI with such bad weather!!! yayyyyyyyy.
Then I was able to leave the whole place pretty happy.

At Iyashi no Sato with Mt. Fuji!

My next destination was Shizuoka! There was about a 3 hour gap between the time I got to Shizuoka and the time my bus left for Kobe.. sooooooooooooo I got to have dinner at Moeko's house!!!!! It was SO NICE to see her and it was really cool visiting her house. I'm really happy I got to do that. :)

Me, Moeko & her dog in Shizuoka~!

Then I got on the bus and came home. Just in time to shower, nap, and tackle 3 days of classes. Haha. Power traveling for the win!

2011-06-04T05:23:00.002-05:00

I hope everything
is set for my Tokyo trip.
Wish me fun and luck!

2011-06-02T07:10:00.005-05:00

8 weeks of work left.
What do I have left to do?!?!?!?!?!?!
Post-typhoon posting.

Last weekend we had a little typhoon party at Mike's place over in Himeji.
It was good times~ he made us soup and sandwiches and we played games and etc. And I didn't get blown away~

I also had dinner with Adam (currently the other foreign teacher at my school) and Rikako. I know it's off season, but we had epic oysters~ YUM, I can slurp 'em down so fast! haha. So fast I didn't have time for pictures yet again.

My head is spinning with all the things on my to-d0 list.
Sometimes it feels like.. "oh I still have 2 months left, that's plenty of time." And sometimes I feel like.. "OH NO I ONLY HAVE 2 months left!!!! I have no time!!!!!"

I guess I can clear my head while i'm on the bus.. to TOKYO this Saturday night~
Yup. I am making my way over to East Japan (after almost a year) to cross some things off that to-do list:
* See the shrines and temples of Nikko.
* Go to the Ghibli museum and hang out with Totoro.
* Go to the Tokyo National Museum of Art.
* View Mt. Fuji the chill way (aka, not by hiking).

But.. there are things I have to cross off the to-do list before I can leave..
* cleaning
* packing
* emails
* and oh yea, 2 days of classes.

2011-05-27T08:45:00.002-05:00

Summertime horror:
insects invading one's home.
Me against countless.

Please make all the bugs go away. They make me feel uneasy in the one place I am supposed to be able to relax. :(

2011-05-23T02:54:00.002-05:00

9 weeks of work left.
Sometimes I just don't feel like
doing anything.

Today (and yesterday) I didn't feel like doing anything. Bruno Mars' Lazy song is my anthem this weekend.
But actually, it's partially because no one else is around. Most of my friends are in Hokkaido, on a sort of reward trip from our company (which my school didn't get this time). I'm not really bummed about not being able to go, but I am a bit sore about not being able to say i've been to all of Japan's main islands.

So anyway I watched a lot of One Piece and a lot of movies.
Needless to say I cried a lot. One Piece has a lot of heart-wrenching stories, but I'm just easily moved these days by anything mildly deep. I'll even cry watching tv or commercials or listening to a sad song. haha, when did I become such a crybaby?

I also bought a coloring book and colored. I think I did a pretty good job.
Watching all my young students coloring their homework makes me want to color! haha. And it's pretty relaxing.

I also sang a lot at karaoke by myself.
I've got a system now. The place down the street from me is really cheap for the marathon price (and I get a discount for living in the neighborhood) with all you can drink soft drinks and tea and such all night. So I can come and leave when I want and sing alllllllllllllllllllllllll the songs I want. haha. perrrfect. I guess it helps with reading Japanese too.

I can't believe what little time I have left in Japan. But even then.. I don't feel like doing anything this weekend.

2011-05-15T23:45:00.005-05:00

Oh, the post office.
The place I like least of all
in all of Japan.

All last week after work I spent my time packing all my suitcases. Not because i'm coming home right now.. but because I need to see how much I can fit into them and how much I need to ship. I'm thinking I can pack everything into the suitcases I brought with me.. but it's the whole weight thing that drives me crazy since I don't have a scale and all. It all started when I realized I can take all my bags from Taiwan to America.. but NOT from Japan to Taiwan. Soooo I had to ship one of my suitcases to Taiwan. And I have to do it NOW (more than 2 months before I even go to Taiwan) because the evil post office only ships to Taiwan by boat once a month and they "don't know" when that time of the month is. Plus it takes 2-3 weeks to get there. Ohhhh the confusion. But that part of it all has been dealt with and I can move on with my life haha. I just hope it makes it to Taiwan ok.

Now i'm going to go visit my manager~ She's in the hospital (she's preggers and because he/she was trying to come out prematurely she's chillin in the hospital) and it's her birthday. I haven't seen her in so long~ So i'm off!

ps - beautiful animation http://vimeo.com/14803194

2011-05-09T05:43:00.006-05:00

Vacation was great!

And now the countdown begins
for leaving Japan.

Yup yup so for Golden week Jordan and I went to Okinawa~
They said it was going to rain the whole time, but where we were it was only cloudy in the mornings and every afternoon it was hot and sunny! I'm super tan now!
First we went to Naha and hung around Kokusai-dori where we ate lots of food like Puffy Snow and tacos haha.

The next day, we flew to Miyakojima (another island about an hour Southwest-ish from Naha). The island isn't too populated so it was hard to get around and there weren't that many people but it was fun anyway. The hostel we stayed at was chill and every night we could drink Orion beer (Okinawan beer), watch tv, and other stuff with the other people there. I found a bunch of volumes of One Piece so I read that too haha. And oh yea, there was a small "smoothie" place near the hostel - basically it was a SUPER CUTE place run by this little lady in the house her father built. Kind of sums up the people on the island in a way.
Maehama Beach (My Hummer????) was really close to our hostel and had good food - not to mention beautiful white sand and clear blue waters.

Me & Jordan @ Maehama Beach

Maehama Beach

Jump! Me at Maehama Beach

The day after we went to Sunayama Beach ("sand mountain" and it was no exaggeration). You have to climb up and down a huge sand mountain before you see the tiny beach with this rock arch thing. There were no people so it was like our own private beach and it was almost as if you could walk out into the water forever, sooo beautiful. My fave beach maybe. Too bad I don't have good pics.
There was also a cool guy who made AWESOME SMOOTHIES from his van. I had 2, they were so good (brown suger & banana, and mango). We also had lunch at another cuuuuuute cafe near the beach.
So we pretty much walked everywhere all day. We then walked into town and hung around there and at another local beach before walking more back to our hostel haha.

The day after that we went to Cape Higashihenna - an isolated place with a lighthouse and everything. It was nice. Then we hitched a ride to Yoshino Beach - aka the place you want to go to if you want to feel like you are snorkling in an aquarium. There were TONS of tropical fish RIGHT in your face, it was so cool. This random guy also made us coral necklaces. Nice. Then we magically caught a bus to town and then back to our hostel.

The last day we went to Maehama for the last time, again super beautiful, before going to the airport and coming back to Kobe. All in all a great relaxing vacay that I needed badly.

This past week I worked two days, but luckily we have an Emergency Teacher at our school now so I no longer have 8 classes a day every day. I'm saved!
Also, I got my Exit package.. quickly bringing me back to the reality that my days in Japan are numbered and there is a mountain of things that need to be taken care of. Sigh, one thing at a time I guess. haha.

2011-04-28T20:42:00.001-05:00

GOLDEN WEEK IS HERE!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow: Okinawa
Today: Gantz II

2011-04-27T09:57:00.002-05:00

One more day of work
before it's my vacationnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
one more day of worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk

2011-04-25T03:29:00.010-05:00

3 more days of work.

Then GOLDEN WEEK vacation~
Just a little more!

2 weekends ago I had my 3rd Hanami with my Amity school. It was nice to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while and hang out with people outside of school and in the sun~

Me and the cherry blossoms at Suma Ura Koen~

Last weekend I went to visit Jordan in Matsue. We went to Matsue Castle, Izumo Taisha Shine (in Izumo) and also the Adachi Art Museum (in Yasugi). All really cool and I highly recommend the art museum. It's in the middle of nowhere but sooo beautiful and peaceful, I wish we had more time there. Anyway, we had a chill weekend, but we seriously spent a crazy amount of time waiting for/riding public transportation. I give up the idea of returning to Shimane/Tottori Prefectures again.

Jump! Izumo Taisha.

The Moss Garden at Adachi Art Museum.

Saturday night we had a dinner with a few Amity schools in the area. It was cool to see people I wouldn't normally have an excuse to see! haha.
Yesterday I finally got my hair cut (so much lighter haha) and I went swimsuit shopping! It was kind of difficult actually but I found a super cute one that I can't wait to wear in Okinawa over Golden Week!
I also randomly found a Hokkaido Fair where I tried TONS of Hokkaido foods samples haha.
To finish the day I finally watched Ohoku, Nino's movie. I was expecting so much from that movie. The music and costumes were beauuutiful BUT the storyline was kind of lacking.
Today I had lunch with Moeko~ I'm so sad she's moving to Shizuoka. But I want to visit that area in June for my mini vacay~ lalala.

Anyway, I just have to work hard for THREE more days and it'll be VACATION TIME!!!!!! Can't wait~

2011-04-22T11:25:00.002-05:00

I NEED VACATION.
A NICE, LONG, RELAXING, AND
WELL DESERVED ONE - NOW!!!

2011-04-09T22:13:00.036-05:00

I haven't written

since early JANUARY?!?!?
Update: Spring volume.

Table of Contents~

Part 1: The rest of January (Norwegian Wood, Osaka aquarium, Hattoji villa)
Part 2: February (Gantz, Chris leaves Japan, Valentine's, my birthday, TBJ visit)
Part 3: March (Kimono in Kyoto, Earthquake, Keziah's goodbye dinner, Amity welcome/farewell dinner, graduate school decision)
Part 4: April (Hanami, Kari's disappearance and the new Amity school year, Keziah leaves Japan)
Part 5: Other things and What's to come

***PART 1***
1/16
I went with Rikako to see Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森) based on the book by Murakami Haruki. It was pretty good (maybe because MatsuKen is awesome) but I don't think i'd watch it again. Maybe it's difficult to make Murakami's books into movies.

1/23-24
Jordan came to visit so we (+ JessE & Keziah) went to the big aquarium in Osaka (海遊館). They have a bunch of interesting exhibits and a HUGE whale shark so it was pretty cool. Even seeing it in real life it's unbelievable how big (and weird) these underwater creatures can be. It had also been a looooooooong time since i'd been to an aquarium. The cool thing about this aquarium is that the path is like a huge downward spiral around the main exhibits so you can see it from different levels and angles which is pretty nice.

Jordan, JessE, Keziah, and me with a whale shark (NOT life size).

Me, Keziah, JessE doing a dramatic pose.

1/30-31
A huge group of us Amity NETs (in celebration of JessR's birthday) rented out a traditional villa in Hattoji (aka middle of nowhere Okayama pref.) It was kind of nice being away from the city for once and we were pretty much the only people in the area so it was like "hello nature! hello old days!" There were lots of little areas outside to walk around and explore in. It was like we time traveled to some old town.
The villa itself was pretty cool. It was big with verandas and a thatched roof. It also had a lot of rooms connected by sliding doors and there was a main room with one of those fire pits (idori?) which I got to light! haha.
We also had a nabe party for dinner so we had 2 pots going with tons of food and beer and games! It was so fun~ we were like a family.
Plus it was SUPER cold so there was no where else to be except under the kotatsu with everyone else. If this is any indication of how cold it was.. a cup of water left on the table had frozen by the next morning.. and not only that, the toilet had frozen so we couldn't flush until it had thawed later in the morning. Haha.

Jason, Chris, JessR, Helen, JessE, Rachel, Keziah in front of our villa.

Rachel, me, Keziah, JessE and our nabe!

***PART 2***
2/6
I went with Rikako again to see the movie GANTZ!!!! It was sooooooooooo cool.. HEART Nino, HEART MatsuKen!!! Of course it was a little different from the anime but I think it was done pretty well and it was super exciting and cooooooool. We went a little early b/c there was a special event where you could see the original Gantz ball used in the movie and the costumes that were REALLY worn by the main actors in the movie! AHHH the suit that Nino wore in the movie!!! And you could also sign and write a message on these huge posters, so of course we wrote messages! It was funnnnn.. can't wait for part 2 (coming out this month!!!)!

The poster that Rikako and I signed!

2/12
I went to Kyoto after work to party with Chris, who was leaving Japan that week. Not much else can be said about a party with Chris. haha. I hope he's doing well back in Liverpool.

2/14
Valentine's day! No Valentine's date for me, BUT I took the opportunity to make some original Pocky messages. Super fun~ but hard work b/c the chocolate I used to write the messages freeze too quickly in the cold.

Decorated Pocky I made! Yumyum~

2/20
I celebrated my birthday a little early with JessE&R and Keziah in Osaka. We had YAKINIKU yum~ and some drinks and dancing.

JessE & me eating yakiniku~

2/24
My birthday~ wahhh I turned 24, on the 24th, on the year of the rabbit! You can't get luckier than that! So even though it was a school night I walked myself around the corner to bar Retro and hung out with the owner and the (cute) bartender there. It was so fun, and even Na-chan came and gave me a flower (from Ikea). haha.

A week or so later my school celebrated my birthday too! Last year manager lured me into a room saying there was a bug she wanted me to kill.. this year manager told me she wanted to talk to me about the schedule and lured me into a room where everyone was waiting to surprise me with cake and awesome Arashi/One Piece goods for my birthday! HAHA it was soooo nice, I was really surprised and they even wrote me messages~ HEART my school.

2/27-28
Travis, Brittani, and JessC came down from East Japan to visit Keziah and I! It had been so long since we'd all seen eachother so it was really nice!
We had Kobe beef (mmmmmmmmm). The place we went to was really great. The waiter was good at English and he explained everything about the beef (where it comes from, the different grades) and after we watched it being made in front of us he gave us intrustuctions on how to eat it with all these different sauces/flavorings. He even explained the origins of one of the weird vegetables in the salad (something about how it was originally grown in Africa and the dew makes it look jeweled and stuff). It was a great (and expensive) experience.
Then we walked around Harborland and chilled and went to Osaka too! I hope I can see them again soon~

Travis, me, Britt, JessC, and Keziah with our Kobe beef~

***PART 3***
3/6
I went to Kyoto with Keziah to meet up with one of her Japanese friends and we went to rent kimonos! It was really cheap but all the old ladies at the rental shop were SO CUTE and funny haha! You walk in and there is a whole array of kimono in all colors and patterns to choose from. It's so hard to choose! Then you have to choose a collar.. then you have to get wrapped up.. then you have to choose a belt.. then you have to choose the jacket (cause it was still cold) and a purse and get your hair done.. Then you're ready to go! The whole process was really interesting and super FUN! And you feel so pretty~! haha.
Then we took hella pics.
THEN we went to Nijo-jo (love that place) to walk around and take more pictures. The weird thing is that lots of tourists kept stopping us to take pictures with them. Haha it was so strange, since that never happens to me usually.
Then we ate dinner. And took purikura pictures! haha it was great.
I wanna get dressed up again~

Me in a kimino~
I wish the colors turned out right in the picture.. it should be much bluer and brighter than it looks. But I still love how it turned out.

(Right to left) Me, Keziah, Keziah's friend Junko, Junko's friend.
(In front) Two random girls we met while getting dressed up. They told Keziah she was gonna get hit on by lots of guys. haha.

3/11
So this day was pretty much like any other day, for me anyway. Got up. Went to work. Had a few classes, went to lunch. Then I had some free time so I went to put flyers for the school in people's mailboxes. Then I got a text from Keziah saying she felt a litle earthquake up at her school (in Shiga, near Kyoto). I didn't think so much of it since that kinda stuff happens a lot.
When I got home I had TONS of worried messages from everyone back at home. I was kinda like "huh? wut happened?" So I turned on the TV I saw that there was a HUGE earthquake/tsunami in Miyagi/Fukushima.
Watching it on TV was honestly really scary and horrible. Luckily I don't know anyone there and my friends who are remotely close were all ok. But I feel sad for all the people who are still going through it all. All we can do from here is make donations and hope things get resolved soon. But the weird thing is that I feel super disconnected from it, I should probably be more worried than I am. But things are still so normal where I am.
People wanted me to come home and all, but I've taken all the necessary precautions here and I really AM quite far from it and there isn't too much to worry about even with the radiation (which is under control btw). I think people don't realize that Japan isn't MICROscopic.. and people here are very resilient. It will take time but I think everything will work out..

3/13
Keziah had a farewell dinner in Osaka at a place where you can fry your own food on a stick at your table. That was pretty fun. Then we sang karaoke.. of course.

Frying the foooooooood at the table.

Me feeding Keziah.. feel the love haha.

3/26
Since the end of March marks the end of the Amity/Japanese school year we had to say goodbye to some of our beloved friends/teachers at my school. At the same time we were able to welcome a few new friends/teachers.
It's so sad when someone leaves. We all work so much so we just end up seeing eachother all the time - going through everything (good and bad) together. You also just can't help but get attached to the students and other teachers.. it's hard to say goodbye even when you're not the one saying goodbye. I know it will be really hard for me when it's my turn in July.

Moeko, me, and Reiko with the scrapbooks I made them!

OH YEA!
While all that stuff was happening I got replies from graduate schools!
I was accepted at 3 schools (Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Oregon, Michigan), waitlisted at 1 school (NYU), never heard from 1 school (Hawaii), and rejected by the other 6.
After much deliberation.. I decided to go tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo......
Michigan!
yayyyyyyy. Graduate school here I come!
I'm pretty nervous... I have to find housing and register for classes and get back into the swing of studying and start fresh again AHHhhhhhhhh.. but I have a little time before that sooooo. yup. :)

***PART 4***
4/3
Hanami in Himeji. It was kinda cold this year so the cherry blossoms were kinda late in blooming. But the area by the Himeji castle is still really nice and we had a little picnic and frisbee playing. It was nice to chill with Mike, Yoko, JessE, and others OUTSIDE haha.

Me, ninja who was apparently on a tv show called Kamen Rider as a minion, and Jess E at Himeji Castle Park.

4/4
Hanami in Akashi. Again, the cherry blossoms weren't really out but we found a beautiful and quiet spot by the lake surrounded by cherry blossom trees (I had come here exactly a year ago with my Amity). It was me, JessE&R, Helen, Eric (and later Jason) and we had tons of food. Again, it was SO NICE to chill OUTSIDE. haha. What a great weekend.

Cherry blossoms in Akashi.

Me watching the cherry blossoms~

Unfortunely, this same day is the day I found out that my co-NET suddenly left Japan without warning. I mean, lots of foreigners have left Japan since the earthquake/tsunami but there isn't much to worry about in our area. Anyway, if you gotta leave then fine.. but she could have at least given us warning.
As a result I had 8 classes a day this week (which is way more than I had before and VERY tiring). We've moved around all of her classes the best we could but there are still some students we couldn't do anything about and that's really a shame since it's not their fault they can't come learn English and since we tried to accomplish so much for this new school year. I don't really mind the extra classes since I don't have to do any extra prep and all her students are AMAZING kids (and i'll get overtime) but now I don't get a break at all and I have to do lesson plans outside of school. It's been hard on the school.. but hopefully we'll get settled soon.

4/5 & 8
Keziah stayed at my apartment those two nights this past week. It was really great to be able to hang out with her before she went back to America. I'm so happy we were able to become friends from training and travel and hang out SO much this last year and 4-ish months! Some of the best times in Japan. Can't wait to see her again on the other side of the world!
As read on her Facebook.. "Oh Japan.. hottest summer, coldest winter, biggest Earthquake and you were still awesome Sayonara AND.... Hello US!!"

****PART 5****
So yup. That sums up the last few months. I wish it didn't take me so long to write in here again!
Other things... hmm.

I'm still going to dance class once a week. I LOVE my dance teacher and her style~ i'll show you the choreo if you want. ;)

I am OBSESSSSSSSSSSSSSED with One Piece. Greatest manga ever. Seriously. In the last month I've read 58 out of 61 published volumes, watched 1 movie, started the anime, bought merchandise and clothes, and I talk about it with everyone.
It's about a guy named Luffy, who is seeking to become the greatest pirate in the world during the great pirate age. That doesn't sound that exciting.. but it IS. Because every story and every character is developed SO well. You can laugh your face off and cry your eyes out in the same volume. I LOVE IT and I can't get enough.

I've also been watching HELLA Japanese movies as usual. I guess you can call it my new found hobby. You can rent 5 movies for 1000yen :).
But I think the best of the ones I've seen in the last few months is 告白 (Confession). I don't know if anyone in America will ever hear about it but it's got so much impact. It starts out with a teacher talking to her class. They're all fucking around.. until she says.. "my daughter was killed by someone in this class." So the whole movie kind of reveals what happened, and what happens later to those kids in this teacher's class. Ahhhh it's so good.

Not only movies.. I've been crazy about books. Unfortunately I can't say that i've been reading. I haven't been reading at all. I've been crazy about BUYING books to read. There are so many books I want to read.. I just haven't been putting aside time for it. But the pile of books keep growing. Haha.. One of these days.. it'll help me study my Japanese.. haha.

I also wish I could say that I've gotten better at cooking. I have NOT gotten any better at cooking. BUT recently I bought a silicone steamer, since i've been wanting it for a while. It's this thing made of silicone and you can pretty much make ANYTHING from steamed veggies, chicken, fish, stew, to dessert in the microwave using this steamer. It's also easy to clean. Sooooo i've been experimenting with that. :) Tonight is not an exception.

Sooooooooooo what's to come?
Tomorrow I am going to another hanami.. this time with my school in Suma. Hopefully the weather will be warm and flowers will be beautiful then.
Next weekend I'm going to visit Jordan in Matsue.
At the end of April and beginning of May we have GOLDEN WEEK! VACATION AT LAST!!! Jordan and I are going to Miyakojima (part of Okinawa). It should be super chill.
Soooo there is more to come! :) I'm not coming home just yet!

2011-01-09T01:55:00.006-06:00

The New Year started

with a bang in Osaka
and went through Kyushu~

So on New Year's Eve Keziah, Jessica E, and I went to party in Osaka~ We made it JUST in time for the countdown and we met lots of interesting people heh heh.

Me, Keziah, Jess E getting ready for New Years Eve!

On New Year's day we flew to Nagasaki where we had dinner at an Izakaya and proceeded to meet more interesting people~
The next day we did some sightseeing in Nagasaki.. including the Peace Memorial Park and some historic areas and the harbor. Of course we ate LOADS of famous local food like Sasebo burger, sala udon, chanpon, and castella cake. Super fun~
Around this time we realized that the island of Kyushu has MANY MEN. And they are all very tall and slightly darker and more handsome. We decided that we are living on the wrong island!!! haha.
January 3rd we took a bus to Kumamto, where we ate RAW HORSE SASHIMI (SO AMAZING) and went to Kumamoto castle. We also had a pretty hilarious encounter with a cute guy on the streetcar who gave Jess the funniest look for singing a strange song haha.
January 4th we took a bus to Aso-san.. a volcano that has a crater that still spews out toxic gas at times. It was SUPER cool.. because it was SNOWING LIKE CRAZY. I haven't seen snow since St. Louis like 2 years ago so it was pretty exciting for me actually. But unfortunately because of that we couldn't actually see the crater through the snow when we went to the top.

Jess E, Keziah, Me on Aso-san by the white space where the crater should be.

Then we got back on the bus and went to Beppu, an area famous of hot spring onsens.
The onsen we went to had an AMAZING MEAL and a nice view of the water.

Me, Jess E, Keziah in yukata at an onsen in Beppu.

January 5th we went to Onsen Hoyo Land.. which is a mud onsen. It was SUPER GHETTO and kind of nerve wracking because it doesn't really separate men and women.. but once we were in it was SO COOL. The mud smelled a little funny but it felt so nice and when we got out we all felt so beautiful haha! The Fountain of Youth!!!
Then we parted ways with Jessica and Keziah and I went to the Hell Hot Springs area. The area has 9 different "Hells" and we decided to go to "Sea Hell" and "Blood Lake Hell." Sea Hell was cool because the water was blue and boiling like CRAZY. They also make boiled eggs and steamed flan inside the hot spring.. which we tried of course.. and that was cool. Blood Lake Hell was calmer and kind of far but it was cool because it had lots of random devils decorating the place and it looked like tomato soup haha.
Then Keziah and I went to our second onsen. It was a more modern one so it was CRAZY.. in addition to the beautiful rooftop onsens (in which you can see the sunset, night view, and sunrise) there was crazy shopping, spas, restaurants with amazing buffets, game center, bowling alley, and water park! Also.. our ROOM was huge with a Japanese style room within our Western style room! Amazing.. haha.
Finally on the 6th we took the Shinkansens home back to reality~
Ahhh so fun~ and so much bonding~

Yesterday and day before at work were so rough.. I immediately had 8 classes on both days.. but now it's the weekend again!!! (And I have a date tonight with a cute Japanese boy in Osaka!!! Wish me luck~)

Here's to 2011! yay!

2010-12-30T21:01:00.014-06:00

Christmas to New Year!

Can you believe the year ends
at midnight tonight?

12/5/2010 - 12/6/2010 => TOKYO DISNEYLAND!
For Amity's special trip this year we went to Tokyo Disneyland! There were 5 of us from my school and we all wore matching green hats (alien from Toy Story) all day (SO WARM)! We rode a bunch of rides and also did some shopping.. the Haunted Mansion was turned into a The Nightmare Before Christmas theme, and we bought the picture from Splash Mountain~ Then we had dinner with all the schools from our area and went back to the hotel. The next day was a meeting all day so it wasn't as exciting.. but a few of my friends made speeches so that was cool.

Me, Rikako, Manager (with a moustache????), Reiko, Shinya @ Tokyo Disney

Me, Carl, Rikako wearing the Alien hats!

Me & Sakurai-kun

I wanna go back to Disney~ I wanna go to Disney Sea!

But when I came back from Disney I lost my voice.. for a WEEK. I had to do all my classes without a voice.. it was really rough in my baby classes where I had to sing.. but somehow I made it through~

This month there were a lot of birthdays! First we went to Kyoto to have a buffet and karaoke for Keziah's birthday. Then we had cake at school for Rikako's birthday. We even had a massive Dragon Ball hunt and cake for Moeko's birthday~! Who is next~

Also, this month our school had a little Christmas dinner at my apartment and we all had some pizza~ that was nice.

Then on Christmas day, we had Secret Santa!!!!!!! Shinya found the gifts I hid for him pretty quickly.. but it took me HOURS to find the gift that Manager hid for me. She made all the clues into a story involving me and my favorite Arashi member- Sakurai-kun~ it was SO MUCH FUN.. during class I was thinking "ahhhh where is the next clue???" and between classes I was looking all over the place! It was a really nice blanket that has buttons so you can turn it into a cape or a little vest-like thing.. it's so cute and warm I LOVE it!!!

Then after work on Christmas, Keziah came and we kicked off the start of VACATION with yakiniku and some drinks at Retro~

Keziah & me at Retro on Christmas

Since then all i've done is shop, get a haircut, karaoke, and relax!!! (Esp since i've finished 9 out of 10 apps for grad school!) Vacation is great~! LOVE LOVE LOVE VACATION.

Tonight a bunch of us are going to Osaka to celebrate New Year's Eve AND TOMORROW.. we are going to Kyushu! Can't wait~ see you in 2011!

2010-12-04T05:14:00.008-06:00

Tokyo Disneyland!

We're going there tomorrow!
Lots on the checklist...

First things first.. I have to tell you about Arashiyama!
It's an area a little outside of Kyoto and it's famous for being beautiful in the autumn and for having an awesome monkey park. I went there with Keziah and some of her relatives. The monkeys were SO AWESOME. They just roam freely on this mountain and they don't mind the people. We got to feed them bananas, apples, and peanuts.. as long as we stayed inside the caged hut at the top. ahhh it was so fun~ and then we explored a bit of the area with the temples and bamboo groves. Super nice.

Me & Monkey

Now~ news about my work~
We got a new computer teacher at last! She's super adorable and now the rest of us can just focus on our own lessons again.

Welcome dinner: Rikako, Kari, Manager, Reiko, Hiroko, Risa, & Me

Secondly~ I decided to extend my contract again until late July! Sorry America! I want to make the most of my summer.. and that is eating Japanese summer foods and going to more festivals and going to Taiwan/Korea again. Don't worry~ I will see you all again soon enough~

Still applying to grad schools. bleh. So much to keep track of! 6 more to go..

oh yea and look at my mini Christmas tree, decorated with a year's worth of cell phone charms i've been collecting as tokens of all of the trips i've gone on since coming to Japan! So adorable~ all the credit goes to Jess E though, haha.

OK NOW TOKYO DISNEY!!!!
YAYYYY DISNEY!!!!
I can't wait! This is that special thing where the schools who made their goals are rewarded with a trip - last time we went to Kyoto, this time it's Disne! But there is a lot of stuff have to get done first.. like packing and cleaning and sleeping.. I have to wake up at 5 to catch the 1st shinkansen to Tokyo. ah! But it will be worth it! :)

2010-11-20T07:59:00.005-06:00

It's random post time!
Dreams, videos, to-do list..

3 day weekend, yay!

This morning I wanted to go to work by 9:30 because I start at 10 on Saturdays. What time did I wake up? 9:30. sigh~

Because my alarm didn't go off! My cell phone has been kinda funny lately.. gonna have to start setting 2 alarms. If I wasn't having weirdly realistic dreams about Amity I don't think I would have woken up in time. I've just been having weird dreams lately.. but the one I had the night before was great~ I dreamed I was at an airport and walked in on an Arashi concert! <3 <3 <3 haha.

So this week was floor parent observations. I didn't have that many so it was alright. I'm kind of nervous about my table parent observations next week.. but hopefully I'll make it through in one piece. Really the only ones i'm worried about the ones on Wednesday (I have both sons of one VIP mom and one son of the other VIP mom in the same day).. once I live through that I can manage all of them.

One more thing (or two) about work.. I MADE IT THROUGH ONE FULL YEAR~ aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I MADE NET TEACHER OF THE MONTH~ yay yay yay.. bragging rights haha.

So this weekend is a 3 day weekend.
Tmw I want to shop a bit in the morning and then get app stuff done for the rest of the day.
Mon I'm going to Arashiyama in Kyoto with Keziah to see some beautiful autumn trees and MONKEYS.
Tue I'm gonna get some more app work done hopefully.

Hopefully hopefully hopefully I can get two more apps done this weekend. It's those extra personal statements (in addition to the statement of purpose) that's killing me! Someone please go back in time to a year ago and tell me that working on apps with a full time job is NOT EASY.

hokay~ before I try to get some stuff done tonight i'm gonna link to random (Japanese haha) CMs, MVs, arrangements i've liked from this year~

love this song~
adorable~
Arashi & wii party~
beautiful movie~
still haven't seen~
so soothing~
perfume des~
troublemaker~
monster~
dear snow~

2010-11-16T20:24:00.001-06:00

A LONG to-do list.
It's parent observations!
How to get it done??

2010-11-14T21:13:00.016-06:00

October and a

little bit of November,
very Japanese.

10/10/2010 => dinner at Lock-up
waitresses dressed up as police officers handcuff you and take your group to your table (aka prison cell) and waiters dressed as inmates bring you your food and drinks that look like science experiments. Then in the middle of dinner there was a "prison break" and freaky people tried to scare us. interesting. This is also the first day I met Kari, my new co-NET who replaced Vanessa.

me and my syringe full of.. red lychee flavored alcohol

10/16/2010 => Amity welcome Kari/farewell Vanessa party @ Zen
many tears :(

Moeko, Kari, Rikako, me, & Vanessa making tacoyaki faces

10/17/2010 => farewell Sandy/Vanessa party in Sannomiya
we gathered our people from all over western Japan and had some food & drinks to say "goodbye for now"

Jess E, Sandy, Vanessa, & Me @ Green House

10/18/2010 => はじめまして　はじめーちゃん (hajimemashite Hajime-chan)
Vanessa and I got to meet Atsue's new baby, Hajime. He's beautiful, just a perfect baby. And Atsue is such a wonderful new mother!

Atsue + Hajime, and me

10/20/2010 => Vanessa's last night at Retro

Me, Vanessa, Mika, & No-chan

10/24/2010 => Date with Vanessa
My last epic night with Vanessa!!!! We did everything!!!
First, we got our fortunes told by an amazing lady! She used palm reading AND other things like colored stones and Chinese stick things, and she told me.. I am suited for my job because I should be around people, I have lot of intuition which I need to listen to more and is why I love places like temples and shrines, I will never have HUGE success or HUGE failures because my internal brake and internal acceleration is equal, I like imagination too much which is why I am always watching movies, I will have a non-traditional marriage, I will live a long time but I will be frail in my old age, I am currently too stressed and dehydrated and need to use my relax time better, AND in order to move on I have to clear my heart by going to a temple/shrine 1.5 hours away from my house in a SouthEastern direction and hang around for 3 hours. Finally, she gave me a bookmark that says I have to stand firmly on my own two feet. @_@ crazy~ but so cool~
THEN, we went shopping a little, had coffee at starbucks, had dinner at the Oyster Bar, took more purikura pictures, and THEN we watched a movie and ate hella cake!!!!!!! So amazing & extravagent!

10/25/2010 => Matt & Shuko's second wedding party
It was so nice to see them again and take a part in their celebrations. There was a HUGE speed competition too.

Me, Matt & Shuko @ Bucato

10/27/2010 => Vanessa left for Canada :(

10/30/2010 => I got sick with inflamed intestines! ahh! No Halloween celebrations for me~

11/3/2010 => Culture Day, trip to Byodoin
Byodoin is a famous temple outside of Kyoto (in Uji actually) and it can be found on the back of the 10yen coin! I learned about it in art history! Jess E and I joined Keziah and Jess R to see it and it was lovely in the setting sun. It also had a really modern looking museum next to it which houses Byodoin's bodhisattva statues.
Also, I bought a bunch of warabi-mochi and syrupy ginger-sugar stuff to make tea with.. SO DELICIOUS ITS CRAZY. I usually never but stuff that's being offered as samples but this time I did!

Me holding the 10 yen coin @ Byodoin

11/7/2010 to 11/8/2010 => Stayed overnight at a temple on Koya-san
Keziah, Rachel, Jess E, Jess R, and I went to Koya-san in the Wakayama prefecture. It's a world heritage site. This mountain has over 100 temples of the Shingon sect, about 60 of which you can stay in overnight, and over 200,000 graves which include graves of very famous people from history. It was also a perfect time to go b/c it wasn't SUPER cold yet and the leaves are turning into it's beautiful autumn colors.
Our temple, called Henjoko-in, was SO beautiful and hospitable. We took a bath, ate Buddhist dinner, copied a sutra in calligraphy (so our hopes will come true), and played games the first night before going to bed. The next morning (bright and early, 6:00 am) we joined the monks in meditation and chanting. It was so incredible, I actually enjoyed it a lot.. except my legs went SUPER numb and we didn't know what we were supposed to do!
Then we had Buddhist breakfast, and set off to explore the HUGE cemetary which leads to a huge temple called Okuno-in (about a 3 hour route). Also beautiful. ^_^

Me in front of our temple, Henjoko-in

heh heh, looking out at the garden from our room in the temple

Keziah & Me @ dinner

Me working hard at copying my sutra

The cemetery leading to Okuno-in

Jess E, me, Jess R, Keziah, & Rachel in the cemetery

11/14/2010 => I sent in the UChicago grad school app!!!!!
1 down.. 9 more to go.. T_T
No life until winter vacation.. がんばるよ！

2010-10-31T03:17:00.003-05:00

Happy Halloween!
October entry up soon..
when i'm not so sick. :(

Now I know that I'm not creative enough for Halloween.
But I also know I can go to the doctor in Japan by myself.

Don't worry!!!! I am much better!

2010-10-16T22:49:00.001-05:00

Tonight we gather
for Sandy and Vanessa's
farewell - just for now.

2010-10-13T11:05:00.003-05:00

Trying to get back
into the swing of my life.
I hate transitions.

A lot of things have been changing lately. And after several months of everything going really well.. it's tough having things to worry about again and having the cycle of every day being messed up. I'm taking Vanessa's leaving Japan a lot harder than I thought I would. I also miss St. Louis more and more these days. Grad apps are, of course, hard. I've let my apartment get super messy. I haven't been going to dance class as regularly as I would like. I haven't been keeping up with my loved ones.

BUT.

Compared to other people, my life is easy! I am working on it. I am even cleaning as I write this! I updated lots of people on my life this week! I've been making lists again! I will get back into the swing of things!

I NEED CONFIDENCE!!!

今、頭
の中にいっぱいに
なってるのは？

"Right now my head is full of..?" (haven't made a post like this in exactly a year!)
work (35%)
the people and relationships in my life (25%)
graduate school applications (25%)
travel (5%)
the things I HAVE to get done THIS WEEK (10%)

2010-10-09T11:08:00.022-05:00

ひさしぶり！

This is the BIG entry for
August => October.

I did it again.
I left the blog alone for SO LONG I have to do another hella quick summary of my last few months. My bad! Here goes!

8/7/2010 to 8/18/2010 => Austin came to visit me for Obon vacation!
Yup! A loved one from America finally came to see me in Japan!
The trip started with a weekend in Kyoto - seeing the traditional side of Japan (Kinkakuji, Nijo-jo which was my fave, Kiyomizu-dera, and Fushimi Inari shrine which led to an unfortunate hiking trail).

Me & Austin at Kinkakuji in Kyoto

On the way back we went through Nara and visited Todaiji - one of my fave places. Lots of deer, the largest temple in Japan with a hole the size of Buddha's nostril which Austin passed through for the first time and I passed through for the third time!
Then I had to go to work for one day so Austin made me dinner. Sometime during this day I felt REALLY SICK and that turned out to be a STOMACH VIRUS. BUT in Japan hospitals don't really operate during national holidays SO I sucked it up and tried to enjoy the rest of the vacation in between all the bathroom trips.
The next day we packed up and went to OKINAWA - to see the eccentric island side of Japan. It was great! Shopping, beautiful weather, eating LOTS of exotic foods, sightseeing (Shuri-jo and the Peace Memorial Park which I wrote a paper on at WashU.. it was CRAZY trying to get there but so worth it), AND we went to a "deserted island" and snorkeled and swam with fish and everything at the most beautiful beach i've seen in my life! Loved it.

Me at one of Shuri-jo's famous gates in Okinawa

Me at the "deserted" Nagannu Island

Austin at the "deserted" Nagannu Island

After that side trip I went to the doctor. THEN we spent a WHOLE day walking through the best of Kobe.. and another whole day walking though all of Osaka (Osaka-jo, Umeda Sky Building, Dotombori). These last days I got to eat fugu AND Kobe beef AND o-toro sushi for the first time! So spoiled but so great. I also introduced Austin to the wonders of purikura and karaoke. Mission complete. ^_^

Austin & me at Kobe's Harborland

Austin wearing samurai garb in Osaka-jo

8/22/2010 => Random day in Kobe
Cut and dyed my hair back to black. Went to watch Mike do his random bi-athalon type thing in Kobe harbor. It was really hot. Then we ate crazy amounts of meat and tried Dr. Fish and had some drinks. It was fun.

Me & Merrie

8/29/2010 => Random night in Osaka
A bunch of us randomly went to SpaWorld (which wasn't that great honestly) and then were rowdy. lol.

9/5/2010 to 9/6/2010 => Epic white water rafting trip in Shikoku
I have to say I can't believe that I did this. It was so dangerous and so adventurous and I DID IT! I SURVIVED IT! IT WAS AMAZING! So all of us girls decided to send our lovely Merrie off back to America in style, AKA rafting. So we hopped on some trains and went to Shikoku (which is beatiful, need to go back) where we BBQ'd and spent the night telling ghost stories in a cabin in the mountain. The next day we went down 9 km of CRAZY river rapids! You'd be so proud of me, I swam in the water and rafted and "surfed" the boat and had to be rescued and jumped off a 7 meter tall cliff and floated in one rapid without the boat and rafted and had fun! CRAZY!

Proof that I went rafting! I'm in the front on the right!

9/7/2010 => Found out I PASSED the N3 level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test! But I also found out I didn't get tickets to the Arashi concerts. Can't win them all I guess.

I love Arashi

9/12/2010 => Finally said goodbye (for now) to Merrie. Also started the grad school application process. It sucks. A lot.

9/19/2010 => BBQ at Shiawase-no-mura with Itayado Amity!
Vanessa and I went on a really nice end of summer BBQ with Reiko (+ her BF), Rikako (+ her BF), and Moeko (+ her BF). So much food and so much fun! It's really nice to be able to spend time with our JTs in an environment that is not school, i'm so happy we're all so close like that. Everyone also matches their BFs like crazy - wow. Then we lured some children to us with bubbles! There were like 6 of them. One of them was SO cute and he liked us so much he brought his mini lawn chair from their campsite to ours to sit in front of us! haha we are so Amity even outside of Amity.

Camping at Shiawase-no-mura. Reiko and her BF in back. In the front (left to right) Rikako's BF, Rikako, Vanessa, me, Moeko's BF. and Moeko.

9/23/2010 => holiday in the middle of the work week!
Went shopping and bought the best boots ever! Also watched a chick flick in the theater and ate oysters. haha so extravagant!

Me & Vanessa eating giant oysters from Hokkaido, haha.

9/26/2010 => Randomly went to visit Keziah in Kyoto.

10/3/2010 => Randomly went to Osaka to shop. I bought 2 sweater dresses, a scarf, and ate takoyaki.

This weekend => I am meeting Kari, the girl replacing Vanessa. Yes, Vanessa (one of my MOST FAVORITE PEOPLE IN JAPAN) is going back to Canada. I am really depressed about it, but she's not leaving quite yet and I am excited to meet Kari at last.

Here's to hoping I keep you all more updated!

2010-08-01T20:22:00.006-05:00

Fun July weekends.

Matsue, Shizuoka,
and a sunny beach.

Two weekends ago Vanessa, Sandy, and I went to visit Jordan in Matsue, which is in the Shimane prefecture. It's kind of a lonely place but it was beautiful and we had a great time~ We went to a place that was like a bird/flower garden. The flowers were beautiful and I got to feed lots of random birds. We also went to the lake to watch the sunset. The next day we took a little Japanese boat around the canals that go throughout the city! So cute.

Vanessa, me, Jordan, and Sandy at the bird/flower place.

Last weekend a bunch of people from our initial training group had a mini reunion at Travis' place in Shizuoka! I bolted from work on Saturday night to catch the shinkansen all the way there and had a lot of memorable times, haha. Let's see.. it was me, Keziah, Brittani, Jessica, Travis, Shane, Adam, and a few other people. So great to see them all again. :) I ALSO got to see.. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNnn...... THE GUNDAM!!!!! yay!!!

Me, Keziah, Travis, Jessica, and Brittani in front of the Gundam!

This weekend was the first one I spent in Kobe/Akashi area in a WHILE. So we alllllllllllll went to the beach (not Suma.. it was at Hayashizaki Matsue Kaigan) and it was hot and fun~ Merrie and Mallorie got to ride some dude's jet ski!!! so cool.. haha. And later that night we had a huge gathering at Takeshi's apartment (manager from Nishi-Akashi school). Yay~ such a good time.

Sanday, Vanessa, Mallory, Merrie, Jessica,
Saki, Keziah, and me at the beach!

Today~ I'm going shopping with Vanessa! And then another work week.. and then OBON vacation~ yay~

2010-07-14T21:15:00.003-05:00

Making use of time.
spent last night at Merrie's place.
middle of the week!

There's nothing wrong with going to the next city over after work on a Wednesday night to sleep over at a friend's house.. as long as we wake up early enough to take the train home before work starts the next day. ^_^

I feel like i'm really making use of my time.. because we're going out and doing things in the middle of the week instead of just moping around after work. Because some of my good friends here are going home-home soon. Looking at the calendar, i've realized two things.. I've booked all my weekends for the next two months AND I've been here for almost 9 months. Crazy~

muahaha.. I still have half an hour before I have to go to work.

2010-07-12T09:31:00.001-05:00

I am so behind

on blogging about my life!
oh noooooo~ where to start?!?!

wah~! I've become one of those people who never update their blog anymore! sorry~!
Now there are SO MANY things to write about from the last two months, I can't really be too detailed on everything.. but here goes my whirlwind tale of the end of May, June, and beginning of July!

4/29/2010 to 5/2/2010 => My 4 day trip to Korea with Jamie for Golden Week
So I went to Seoul. First of all, it was pretty epic just GETTING to Korea because Jamie almost didn't make it onto the plane, but thanks to Japanese airport efficiency we made it at the last second and safely made it to Seoul. Once we were there, we did some sightseeing (old traditional palaces where we dressed up, N Seoul Tower to see the skyline, an awesome man made stream full of couples which lights up at night, a national art museum) and of course did TONS of shopping at several different districts. It's all cheaper than Japan and pretty nice stuff, I still think about going back and doing more shopping. We also randomly ran into a classmate of Jamie's from Penn so we chilled with him & his friend and went to a theater where we saw a pretty nice show that was kind of like an all Korean LNYF - haha. Anyway, I was pretty exhausted after all this seeing, and shopping, and walking, and eating but it was pretty good.

(Me & Jamie at the gardens of Chang Dok Gong - I think)

5/6/2010 to 5/8/2010 => My 3 day solo trip to Miyajima, Hiroshima, Onomichi, and Kurashiki
So Golden week was over at this point but my school was still being rennovated so I took advantage of my forced vacation days. My first solo trip ever in my whole life turned out to be pretty nice. I took the shinkansen to Hiroshima and spent a day in Miyajima, which was beautiful. The tide was halfway in so I could walk out a bit from the shrine that is there towards the red gate. I spent the night in Hiroshima and the next day I FINALLY did my tour of Hiroshima. I went to the Atomic Dome, Peace Memorial Park, and Museum. I had a really great volunteer guide who showed me a lot of things I wouldn't have been able to find or appreciate on my own and told me stories so I was so glad I went. You get a lot of mixed feelings being there. Anyway, after that I went to Hiroshima castle, and then spent my afternoon in a really nice garden just spacing out near the water haha. The next day I took the train to Onomichi - BEAUTIFUL place. It's a small town by the water but there are TONS of temples and what you do is you walk through the narrow alleys between houses from temple to temple until you get to the ropeway, which you take up the mountain and then you can walk the Path of Literature. I couldn't read any of it but it was really peaceful and a nice walk and a great view of mountains and water and such. Then I took the train to Kurashiki, which is nice but I was tired so I didn't spend too much time there. I was bummed it wasn't peach season.

(Me at Miyajima)

5/11/2010 => The newly renovated school
Going back to Amity after a great vacation was bleh.. but the new school IS AMAZING. Totally different than before, sometimes I still can't believe it's the same place. I love it. New tables, new carpet, lots of space, cute colors and windows. But I have to share a shelf with Vanessa and sometimes it's rough because we both have so much stuff.

(Me & one of my babies, Ria, in the new school)

5/15/2010 => Girl's night
Vanessa had me, Sandy, Merrie, and Keziah over after work for dinner and a sleepover. Good times. Got in trouble for the noise though.

5/16/2010 => Mike's dinner party
Mike finally had us all over at his place in Hirohata (Himeji) where he made us Mexican-ish food and showed us his awesome apartment and works. jealousy~

5/22/2010 => Girl's Night out in Osaka
Went to a fun club with good music.

5/24/2010 => Shuko's farewell
Went over to Shuko's place to say goodbye, I only knew her for a short time but hopefully i'll see her & Matt again in America or something.

5/30/2010 => Date in Sannomiya with Reiko
We had to buy gifts for Atsue's baby shower, so Reiko and I went to this CUTE cafe on top of the International Center for lunch and then spent way too much time looking at baby clothes in baby GAP. Babies are so fashionable these days. PS - I want a baby boy for sure so I can dress him up in funky colors, and robots, and sharks, and dinosaurs, and monsters.

5/31/2010 => In Sannomiya again
Had coffee with Vanessa & Hiroko yayy. Then I got my hair cut and colored by Takemura-san.. I hadn't had my haircut in 6 months.. so he scolded me. But he said he was impressed because my Japanese had gotten so much better! I was impressed that he remembered me after that long.. haha.

6/3/2010 to 6/4/2010 => Follow-up Training in Okayama
So Vanessa and I TOTALLY dreaded going to this thing. We had so much work to do at school and we had to prepare so much for the teachers replacing us for those days at school.. but I had Nico replacing me so I was pretty happy. Anyway, we and our 3 new JTs took the shinkansen to Okayama and met up with all the people going to training and got on some buses which took us an hour into the mountains to this training center. Training overall was okay.. and my model lesson went really well.. but I guess it was kinda boring AND the food kinda sucked.. BUT I was so happy to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time.. but maybe I got a little carried away~

(Moeko, Rikako, Yuki, Vanessa, and me at a local yakiniku place in Itayado after we came back from follow-up trianing in Okayama)

Early June => ARASHI CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT
NEED TO GO TO ARASHI CONCERT.. so of course I filled out the forms and sent everything in and paid my money and made all the phone calls so far.. still waiting to find out if I got tickets or not!

(Me & a poster of Aiba-chan & Nino at a shinkansen station)

6/7/2010 => Atsue's Baby Shower
Vanessa planned this baby shower for Atsue (who's baby boy is due in August) because we thought it would be fun for all of the staff to get together and to spread some Western culture love here in Japan. It was lots of good food, co-worker chill time, games, and AWESOME baby things. PS - Atsue has a COOL house with a COOL kitchen.

(Atsue, Hiroko, Moeko, Vanessa, me, Reiko, and Rikako at Atsue's house for the baby shower)

6/14/2010 => Harborland date with Vanessa
I bought craptons of things at UNIQLO and did purikura~

Mid June => Parent observations at Amity
My first parent observations were so so so stressful but I think they went really well overall and I got some GOOD responses from the VIP moms, which means a lot.

(my fave kids, Ryouya & Kannta)

6/20/2010 => Takoyaki party at Reiko's
My first takoyaki making party~ it was so much fun~ AND Vanessa and I got to meet Reiko's boyfriend!

(the foooooood at Reiko's for the taco-yaki party, Vanessa and I made the spring rolls)

6/27/2010 to 6/28/2010 => Amity's Tokubetsu Kenshu
Tokubetsu Kenshu is like a bonus weekend for the schools who met their business goals. Of course our school got it sooooo I went to Kyoto with Vanessa, Manager, Reiko, and Shinya. We had lunch at a fancy hotel buffet with the Nishi-Akashi school, Kakogawa school, and Himeji Hirohata school.. and the desserts were sooooooo good! After that we went to Sanzyusangendo, which has maybe more than 1000 bodhisatvas in a long hall, it was pretty amazing. THEN we went to the hotel (which was nice~ it was the one right above the Kyoto JR).. THEN we had the Amity dinner and speeches and all. Dinner was really good and our school had good speeches BUT I HAD TO PEE SO BAD the entire time! I thought I was gonna die. Anyway, after that a bunch of us got to hang out together in some bars.
The next day.. our school went to USJ (Universal Studios Japan)!!!!!!!! OMG SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I don't think I've had so much fun in a LONG TIME. It's much smaller than America's Universal Studios but all the characters walking around were so fun and everything was just so well done and our school is fun to hang out with. We definately rode Space Fantasy twice and Hollywood Dream three times. We all bought head gear and things too. Just fun fun fun.

(Me, Reiko, Manager, Shinya, and Vanessa at USJ)

7/4/2010 => The JLPT, Mike's photo show, 4th of July
Finally, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level N3! It was okay.. hopefully I passed. I won't find out until September though.
After my test I went to Mike's photo show at a cute little cafe bar in Motomachi. It was such a nice way to celebrate July 4th! With some drinks, games, sparklers, and friends and then karaoke!!! ^_^

(Nico, Merrie, Sandy, Keziah, and me at a bar in Motomachi for Mike's photo show)

7/11/2010 to 7/12/2010 (Today~) => "Camping" on Awaji Shima
So this weekend, Vanessa, Reiko and I went to Awaji Shima. We took the bus there and first we went to Onokoro land.. which has lots of random stuff and miniatures of famous places from around the world. It rained a lot and had no other people but it was fun just chillin around there. We also did from craftmaking and such which was fun haha. Then we stayed the night in this thing called an "African House".. SO non -PC but it wasn't so bad, haha. The next day it still rained so we couldn't go to the farm to milk cows.. soooooooooo we came home early and had a nice lunch in Sannomiya. A nice weekend overall. ^_^

(Reiko, Vanessa, and me at Onokoroland on Awaji Shima)

In general.. i'm having fun and it's really hot.

The next .. 2 months-ish? Is totally full of plans too. Matsue, Shizuoka, Kyoto, then Austin is coming for the Obon vacation in August! Tanoshimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2010-05-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

Seoul was amazing~
shopping, food, and palaces~
I want to go back!

Tomorrow starts my
3 day solo excursion.
Hiroshima, plus!

2010-04-24T19:42:00.004-05:00

It's vacation time~!
Golden week plus one week for
school renovations!

All week things were kind of crazy at school because we had to prepare for the MUCH NEEDED renovations (my school was one of 6 schools out of Amity's 77 that weren't in the green/orange "Amity style") that are happening now.
First, we had to tell every student and their moms about it and reschedule classes..
Then, we each had to take A LOT of stuff home every night (because headquarters would only accept certain things to store for us) so I've got a mountain of teaching material in my apartment right now.
Then, as SOON as classes ended last night we conducted cleaning of EPIC PROPORTIONS! We literally scrubbed EVERYTHING, and none of it had been cleaning in probably 10+ years. We were still packing up as the movers were moving things out even with all the extra help we were getting.
When things were moved out and the construction had STARTED (Japanese people work at night?!?!).. we kind of had a bootleg farewell to Atsue (who's going to have a BABY~!!!!) in the empty lobby and we gave her a farewell album (that i've been working on for a while) and took lots of funny pictures! I hope someone puts them up or something.
Then we had dinner at like 10 as always.. but as a group! so fun & yum~

(Then I came home and watched the Arashi programs I'd missed (because of the cleaning) on the internet! yay!)

I can't believe that when I come back from vacation everything will be all shiny and new and childproofed. 2 weeks is pretty fast for a renovation isn't it?!?!?! It was kind of sad to see the dingy school start to get torn apart but it's a good thing and I can't wait to see it!

Anyway, I'm so excited that it's vacation right now! I have a total of 2 weeks when you add up the weekends, Golden Week, and the 5 vacation days I had to take for the renovations. This means I don't have any more vacation days to use when anyone visits me from America (but who knows if anyone is going to anymore besides Austin?), but it can't be helped.

Chillaxin for the next few days.. because..
in 4 days i'm going to be in KOREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Food, shopping, history, excitement.. ^_^
(then 2 days in Kobe)
Then i'm finally going to visit Hiroshima!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miyajima, lots of history, food, my first solo trip in my whole life! (I'm kinda nervous!)

Stay tuned! haha ^__^

2010-04-10T06:32:00.003-05:00

Longest week ever?!?!?!?!
I'm going to treat myself!
Have a nice weekend~

I'm going to say it again.. LONGEST WEEK EVER?!?!?! WHY?!?!?! Things are tense in the office at school and it was SUCH a relief when I finished my last class and got myself out of there!

And then.. I proceeded to buy ARASHI'S 5X10 CONCERT DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I would have normally paid this much for a DVD, but it's ok because I worked my butt off for this haha.

Usually I jam pack my weekends with activity or traveling.. so I'm going to enjoy just being by myself and doing whatever I want with NO PLANS for once! (well there are some errands I have to do too but it's ok.)

TGI-saturdaynight

2010-04-05T20:53:00.006-05:00

Sakura weekend~

hanami in Akashi,
and day with my aunt.

Hanami in Akashi Castle Park with my coworkers was AMAZING. It was a beautiful day and we had a picnic by the pond by the castle and we got the PERFECT spot (thanks to some nice old guys). Had lots of fun and took lots of pictures!
Yesterday I spent the day with my aunt and she took me to Oji zoo which is FILLED with cherry blossoms also and I got to see pandas for the first time! But actually I thought the koalas and red pandas were the cutest. After the zoo we took the ropeway up to the Herb-en gardens to see the view of Kobe.. and after that we walked through the Kitano area to look at the European houses.

Hopefully next weekend there will still be some blossoms left~ because I want to go to Kyoto~ I wonder if there are any festivals coming up that I haven't missed yet.

SAKURA EVERYWHERE! Akashi Castle Park.

One of the pandas in Oji Zoo.. sitting in a TIRE! haha so cute. With cherry blossoms in the background.

2010-04-03T19:38:00.004-05:00

Tons of sakura
viewing this weekend for me.
The mark of springtime.

We're out of school for the weekend! It's time to enjoy the beautiful day and SPRING with hana-mi!

Today I am going to Akashi with Vanessa and some of the Japanese teachers from our school to have lunch under the trees and by the castle maybe.
Tomorrow I will enjoy the cherry blossoms with my aunt by Oji Zoo and see PANDAS for the first time in real life!

And maybe i'll do other stuff too. ^_^

2010-04-01T07:54:00.001-05:00

Today was so long!
First day of the new school year,
2 more days this week..

2010-03-31T09:57:00.003-05:00

Kumi, Hiroko~
thank you both for everything!
SAD to see you leave!

Tonight was Kumi & Hiroko's farewell party. I've been working on their farewell scrapbooks for a long time~ and I finally got to present it to them after lots of last minute taping in of messages from the staff. It was so sad to say goodbye, but i'm so happy I got to experience teaching at the same school as them (SOOOOO LUCKY I GOT THIS SCHOOL) and I hope they have the best of luck with whatever they move on to do. Being a JT is tough.

Now we will have three new teachers and work will be a very different place, but I still think we'll all get along really well. ^___^

Man, i've been here for over four months already! Can you believe how time flies? I think i'll be really sad when I leave here.. but enough of that! There's still things to do before bed and it's already late!

2010-03-29T11:53:00.005-05:00

Relaxed this weekend

at Wakayama's onsen!
Water, mountains, whales.

So this weekend I went to an onsen (hot spring bath type place) in Kii-Katsuura in Wakayama pref. with Jamie! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! It was my first time at an onsen so I was really excited!

So Sunday morning I set off for Osaka where I met Jamie and we got on a train that took us along South on the cost of Wakayama pref. all the way to Katsuura. It took about 3 hours but we just talked and looked at the beautiful mountains on one side and ocean on the other.

When we got there we walked around the little town and the harbor. It was surprisingly beautiful! Katsuura is the second most popular onsen location in Wakayama - I think.. after Shirahama. It's famous for oranges, fresh tuna, and whale (to be eaten and to be seen). It's right by the Pacific Ocean and close to Urashima - where the folk tale of Urashima Taro took place. It's also close to where the documentary film "The Cove" took place - therefore there are also dolphins.

Anyway, we met some really nice people and had tuna for lunch. Then we went to our hotel to drop off our stuff and we took the MOST AMAZING WALK along the inlet. We just kept walking and walking along the edge of the coast and we kept running into amazing things! First, we saw a lot of guys fishing.. so.. after a mini debate with myself about whether I should do it or not I suddenly had the urge to say to one guy "すいません！つれてますか？" ("Excuse me! Have you caught anything?") The poor guy turns around and is all confused and goes "え？！いえいえ！とんでもないです！" ("huh? nono! no way.."). And of course I hadn't thought this far into the conversation so i'm like.. "uhh.. がんばって！" ("uhh.. you can do it!") and started awkwardly giggling and walking away! ahh so awkward! and then Jamie and I decided to call in Ito Sousuke the 3rd.

A little further down we met an older man who was also fishing and he showed us the fish he caught called kiss! so cute. Then we kept walking.. and found a rocky area where a man with a dog told us we could go down and walk around.. where we then found SEA SHELLS everywhere! AND A DEAD PUFFERFISH! EW! haha

So anyway after our amazing walk we went back to the onsen hotel and our steward took us to our AMAZING room with an AMAZING view and served us tea and crackers.

Then we went to the bath and hot spring! Omg I didn't know being naked and sitting around in hot water with a bunch of other naked women could be so much fun. This was an outdoor onsen and the view from the hot spring of the ocean and mountains was just incredible. There were a few different baths we could sit in with different degrees of HOT and there was an area where the water comes down and is like a massage if you sit under it.

Anyway after like 2 hours of that we went to eat EPIC DINNER! And I ate WHALE! It was pretty good actually, kind of tough and kind of like beef and fish at the same time.

Then Jamie kind of took a nap while I tried to find the funny parts of a romance novel. Then we proceeded to take silly pictures of ourselves in the yukatas. Then we went to the bath AGAIN and chatted it up with a nice old lady. Then we passed out.

Monday morning we enjoyed the view some more and ate all you can eat for breakfast where there was more whale and random things.

Then we spent a few hours on Nachi-san - a mountain further North with Nachi Falls, the tallest waterfall in Japan. It was very peaceful and beautiful on the mountain. There were also more shrines and temples to be enjoyed (after climbing MANY tortuous steps in heels). I look TONS of pictures and we had somse green tea ice cream. ^______^

When we got back we spent some more time at the harbor before getting on the train to go back to Osaka.

All in all the most beautiful, relaxing trip i've had in Japan! I was SO happy! All thanks to Take, my amazing travel agent and my good sense to pick a GREAT outdoor onsen by the ocean on a bargain weekend. Now maybe I can go to work refreshed! ^_____^

Me out on the rocks!

What the onsen looks like!

Jamie & me in ukata in our room during dinner!

At Nachi Falls on Nachi-san.

At the harbor of Kii-Katsuura.

Springtime is here!

AH! Also, I wanted to say that LAST weekend when we went to Harborland for Vanessa's birthday I also had a lot of fun! I got my fortune told (she used my birthday, this year's date, and my palm to decide that I am pretty much I am a "magnet", and I need to work on being positive this year, and when I go back to America I will be able to do what I want and I will do best in a job where I can utilize my kindness for others like teaching) and ate LOTS of meat at the Brazillian steakhouse again and went bowling! Why is Japan so much fun?

2010-03-25T10:32:00.001-05:00

CRAZY FUNNY tales
of end-of-the-year madness
from Itayado

a real update of last weekend and this week coming soon! haha.

2010-03-20T20:12:00.001-05:00

Vanessa's birthday~
going to celebrate at
Harborland (my love).

I plan to shop, eat, get my fortune told, be with good people, and bowl today.

2010-03-15T08:09:00.006-05:00

White Day was SO FUN~!

Saw amazing things, danced, and
got some chocolate. <3

Ok so for those who don't know.. Valentine's day (2/14) in Japan is from girls to boys and White day (3/14) is from boys to girls.

So on White day I went to Kyoto to see Keziah again and we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine (you know.. that place in the last scene of Memoirs of a Geisha where she's running through the rows and rows of endless red gates?) and had a nice walk, photo shoot, and chat with the men who work at the shrine. It's beautiful and REALLY perfect for a long walk (2 hour hike through the gates up the mountains) so I definately want to go again and recommend it!

Then we met up with one of her JTs for lunch and we saw BEAUTY & THE BEAST THE MUSICAL IN JAPANESE! AHHHHHHH It was just incredible and amazing and wonderful and it just reminded me again of what a great story Beauty & the Beast is. All the costumes and sets and music and dancing were so great and I definately cried THREE times during the show and we all already know how the story goes! I think I want to watch more musicals in Japanese, it's kind of fun to compare such classic shows between the two languages.

Also, there was a special curtain call at the end of the show for White day.. you had the option of writing a special message to someone you love before the show and the cast choose the best 5 to read out loud and if they read your message you win a prize! The messages were all so SWEET I cried during that too (I mean.. I was still kind of on a roll from the finale.. haha). It reminded me of all the dates to the Fox I went on with Austin!

After that we had dinner and went to A-bar and hit up Club World where they had good music for once (the DJ gave all the girls a cd of his special White Day mix - SO CUTE) and I danced on stage with Keziah and lots of other girls. haha it was fun~

Today I just relaxed (and skyped with Austin.. and went to dance class).. just can't get enough of "relaxation" haha I wonder why. All in all a good weekend (and I didn't spend as much money as I thought I would! yay~) if you ignore train troubles.

In the torii gates of Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Beauty & The Beast!

2010-03-13T18:30:00.000-06:00

Leaving for Kyoto~
to see Beauty & the Beast!
Like a White Day date?

2010-03-09T20:52:00.003-06:00

I hate how it's cold,
just when we thought we were on
the verge of springtime.

2010-03-08T01:44:00.005-06:00

Arashi fan club~
i'm finally a member!
All thanks to Austin~!

So I FINALLY got around to going to the post office and sending in the fan club form to Johnny's. This plus the steaks is the BEST birthday present EVER! I can't wait to get my fan club things in the mail and I HOPE HOPE HOPE they have a concert soon and if so I HOPE HOPE HOPE to win the tickets in the raffle!

The whole thing is WAY too complicated.. oh well. *Arashiiiii Arashiii for dreaaam~* <3

Their new music video I have had on repeat for the last week, Sakurai-kun's suit is SO ridic but I love it anyway (reminds me of Austin?? haha) => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpyGRG21aI

Speaking of which, I am on the last love-steak from Austin. I will lovingly eat it after my dance class. ^_^ It will bring the end of another nice weekend as I put together another model lesson plan -__-;; hehheh.

2010-03-07T08:53:00.001-06:00

Just had a good day~
Kobe Flower Story and
lots of company.

Soooooo last weekend my dance teacher told me she was going to dance in this thing called Kobe Flower Story - so I was like ok and I gathered a bunch of girls (me, Vanessa, Merrie, Shuko, and Ami) and went today to Harborland to check it out.

It was really nice! Not so big of an event.. but I got to see kids (3 years to high school age) from the dance studio I take classes from dance (so cute - I wish I were dancing on stage too! reminds me college haha) and a pretty nice fashion show and lots of beautiful flowers. I wish it would just go and be SPRING already.

And since we were in Harborland we also did lots of (window) shopping (I wish I had more money cause I wanna go shopping and buy everything all the time - I have to control myself -__-) and ate BRAZILLIAN MEAT again and had yummy yummy meats and pineapple desserts made by a very flirtatious Brazillian man (who Merrie and I saw AGAIN later that night in Motomachi hahaha).

I also picked up a few things to make a new clunky necklace - theme: abandonned beach house! haha it will be awesome. I am going to wear it to Suma as SOON as it gets warm and we can fullfill my dream of having a picnic and breaking open a watermelon and playing with beachballs at the beach.

Then Merrie and I went to see Mike in Motomachi. All in all a VERY good day.
Tmw.. I will go to my dance class YAY and TRY to get into the Arashi fan club (Austin's birthday gift to me ^_^) and do MAD lesson planning again. I have to tell myself I CAN NOT go shopping. I need to save money for my many trips.

2010-03-02T19:54:00.003-06:00

it's only wednesday..
a lot of worries today..
let's work something out..

parent observation of my demon class
no one signing up for spring seminars i am working my ass off for
scheduling of classes and weekends
having enough money for everything i want to do and still save some
booking that trip to Korea
asljdfa;lskdflaskjdf

2010-02-28T10:58:00.006-06:00

Nara was SO FUN!

With deer and good luck all day.
I love the weekends.

So it was kind of annoying getting there because the trains don't go to Nara (original capital of Japan back in the day) directly from Kobe.. but once I got there and met up with Keziah it was non-stop awesomeness! haha.

We basically petted/took pictures with/fed/got attacked by LOTS of deer (messengers of the gods) ALL day at Nara Park.. and then we went on to Todaiji and saw Unkei's statues in the big gate, and then the biggest Buddha statue in Japan (though it's a rebuilt version that's only 2/3 of it's original size) AND THEN I got to crawl through a hole in a column that's supposed to be the size of the Buddha statue's nostril TWICE for good luck! Now I have LOTS of good luck haha. I was also happy to finally see some more well known art that I learned about in school. ^_^

We also ate fresh mochi (also twice) - like we watched them make it and we ate it 2 seconds later! It was REALLY good.. and that's coming from me, the girl who doesn't like mochi. I think i've seen these mochi makers before.. maybe they were on a mochi competition TV? Anyway we can check later b/c I got video and photos.
I also had curry udon for the first time (maybe) and it was pretty good.

Then we ran out of things to do in Nara haha.. so we made our way to Osaka (which i've decided is probably the twilight zone of Japan for trains) where we explored Dotombori a bit.

all in all a good good day ^_^

tmw I plan to go to the bank, go to the post office so I can get into the Arashi fan club (birthday gift from Austin), go to the bookstore to get "The very hungry caterpillar" for work, meet up with my aunt, go to my dance class, do some work. it will be very busy i think. better get some sleep tonight ^_^

Me being surrounded by the deer in Nara - they only want me for my Deer crackers..

Me coming out of the hole in Todaiji for the second time haha. That's a small hole..

Me & Keziah in Osaka.

2010-02-27T17:27:00.001-06:00

Going to Nara~
going to see the deer (poop)
and giant Buddha.

2010-02-23T19:23:00.001-06:00

I am 23!
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Here's to a good day~

2010-02-23T08:14:00.002-06:00

Got Austin's package-
another amazing gift!
So so amazing!

So for Valentine's Day & my birthday (including the amazing meat package from last week) Austin sent me a bunch of things to keep me warm and entertained as well as a funny/sweet card ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDdddddddddddd a really long letter about how he was trying to get me tickets to an Arashi concert and long story short.. he's making me part of the Arashi Fan Club so I can try to get tickets to an Arashi concert!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything was so thoughtful and amazing and alsdkjf;laskjf;alskf;lskdj;laskdjf;lsj~!!!!!!!

The only thing that would make my birthday even more amazing than it is, is if everyone in America were here with me in Japan! ^___________^

2010-02-22T08:01:00.000-06:00

Started my dance class!
It's nice to have a work out
and try something new. ^_^

2010-02-21T08:19:00.005-06:00

3 months in Japan -

still having amazing times!
Don't want it to end~

Birthday Bash was fun!
Lots of drinks, lots of good friends.
Almost 23~!

Merrie & I with our DELICIOUS girls's day wedding birthday CAKE at the underground bar in Osaka Namba with 200 yen drinks and strange decor.

2010-02-19T23:45:00.002-06:00

"Birthday Bash" tonight
for mine & Merrie's birthdays!
Osaka party~

2010-02-18T09:06:00.000-06:00

OMG I HAVE
SO MUCH WORK TO DO TONIGHT!
MUST GET ON IT NOW!

2010-02-16T09:30:00.005-06:00

I got a package.
4 rib-eye steaks, tongue slices -
Austin sent me MEAT!

At school today my manager says "Ai-Lin Sensei, you got a package.. it's frozen.." and I was like "huh?!?" And when I went home for my lunch break I discovered that Austin sent me MEAT for my birthday! haha.. I still can't believe it! The package said "sending the gift of -love- MEAT." What a boyfriend I have. ^______^ Still trying to spoil me from the other side of the world! I think I will be eating well for the next week or so! haha. ***LOVE***

ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to start taking dance classes at a dance studio across the street from my apartment starting next week! I'm REALLY excited! I think it will be a really good way to meet a few new NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING people and get some movement in my life besides walking to get to places and being busy at work. I just pay for 5 classes a month and take any classes on their schedule I feel like whenever I feel like it - like hip hop or jazz or ballet or whatever. When I went to talk to them yesterday they were SO nice and cool.. and the classes looked really fun. So excited! I can't wait to try it out next Monday night!

arghhh I should probably lesson plan for school.. I need to finish lessons for 2 classes, plus a model lesson for the new textbooks, and a trial lesson for a prospective student! But wahhh it is already almost 1 am and I am le-tired and I didn't even do my Japanese-kanji studying for the night. boo..

MAYBE I can wake up early-ish for once.. haha.
goodnight all!

2010-02-14T22:26:00.009-06:00

Beautiful works at

Hyogo art museum and
karaoke twice.

Pictures I took of the Hyogo Museum of Modern Art in Kobe. Didn't get any photos of the artwork though, sorry, the security ladies were really scary looking.

My favorite piece of work was one where the bottom third was a photograph of a dead tree and building debris from the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.. and the rest of the work is an amazing painting where the dead tree from the photograph grows into a really beautiful tree with fluttering white blossoms that looked like stars and it looked really enchanting and like it was swaying.

It was a small permenant collection and there weren't any special ones at the time, but the peices that were there were all really interesting.. Japanese themes and paintings with Western influence and some REALLY weird contemporary Japanese artists. It was cool. The museum itself had really cool architecture also. I feel like i've seen it in my textbook from Art & Japanese Society class at Wash U.

Chinatown was pretty packed with people watching some show (reminded me of LNYF) but there were too many people to be able to see well so Jamie and I just ate some delicious buns and moved on to karaoke.

I also got hit on by a Japanese man who claimed to be from Florida and gave me his "business card".. SO SKETCHY. haha

All in all a good weekend. Today i'm going to try to sign up for dance classes! And buy a new umbrella.

2010-02-13T18:48:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's!
And Happy Lunar New Year!
Now it's Jamie Time!

I miss all of you from Wash U who I would normally spend Valentine's and the Lunar New Year with!

2010-02-13T04:46:00.001-06:00

I wanna go out -
finally Saturday night!
But no one's around..

Therefore I am watching West Side Story as I eat my bowl of rice topped with plenty of lettuce, salmon sashimi, and a little mayo.

I wanna do something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-10T19:15:00.002-06:00

I wanna stay home.
Today is a holiday -
Amity still works.

2010-02-09T09:22:00.002-06:00

Tuesday, work was slow
and wonderfully warm out.
I want Spring to come~!

2010-02-06T19:56:00.010-06:00

Yes! It's the weekend!

I'm gonna do some shopping
and get my hair dyed!

And now for this post..
I will give you pictures

of my last few weeks!

Vanessa, me & Keziah with some Samurai at Himeji-jo (castle) in Himeji.
I think they were afraid of us.

Ikuta Ginja (shrine) in Kobe Sannomiya on Coming of Age Day.

Me at Heian Ginju (shrine) in Kyoto.
This is me failing at jumping.

Me on top of the gate (one of the three largest in Japan) at Nenzenji (temple) in Kyoto.
It was a beautiful day and Keziah & I had a beautiful view and some beautiful photos.

Keziah & I do PuriKura photobooth!
We rock at this.

Karaoke all night in Kobe with Vanessa, Vanessa'a friend Lizzie from Canada, Vanessa'a boyfriend Hiro from here...
and many more... haha.
Just ignore the beer..

Me & Jamie in Kobe Shinnagata in front of the Tetsujin robot.

A new, Spring version photo of our staff at Kobe Itayado Amity for our school website.
Top row from the left: Vanessa, me, Reiko, Manager
Bottom row from the left: Kumi, Hiroko, Atsue

Me & 2 of my fave kids! Aren't they cute?!?!?!?!?!

And that was pretty much all of my January (the non-working part anyway) in photos. To make up for all my posts so far this new year that have just been random haikus and are lacking in substance.

Work has been pretty stressful as of late trying to learn how to scold my students who are naughty and trying to keep up with company goals and dealing with changing schedules.

But now it's Feb-ru-a-ry, a new month! So I think we can start again fresh. ^_^ And we can only hope it gets warm again soon - I am tired of seeing my breath inside the apartment all the time!

What else have I been doing? I have been on the internet and to the DVD rental store!!!!!

So here's my shedule in case you want to catch me online..
Sunday & Mondays are my days off so sometimes I am here sometimes I am not.
So on working days I might be here before or after plus maybe lunch. Usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays before work is the BEST time.. and Saturday nights. I would also give 30 min leeway since I have to get to work early and I have to stay after every day to clean.
Tuesdays I work 12:30 to 9:30
Wed I work 12:30 to 9:30
Thurs I work 11:30 to 8:30
Fri I work 11 to 9
Sat I work 10 to 6
This is JAPAN time.. that's 15 hours ahead of St. Louis. So if it's noon on Tuesday in Japan, it's 9 pm on Monday in St. Louis. OK?

sooo.. I've been watching a good variety of movies/dramas.. here's what i've seen in the last few weeks..
+ Mei-chan no Hitsuji - a drama about a girl who is poor and her parents die and she finds out she is actually RICH like no other and her mysterious grandfather sends her to an epic all girls school where every girl is attended to by a HOT BUTLER. one of those cute high school kind of dramas only meant to watch hot guys. I was pretty happy with watching it.
+ Pikanchi - this is an ooooooooooooooooold Arashi movie, it was kind of like boys coming of age or something but it was just random and cute/quirky. Of course I liked it, but it wasn't nearly as good as their other movie "Kiiroi Namida" (Yellow Tears).
+ Gran Torino - I guess I agree with everyone in that it was very good and worth watching even though the Asian kids could use a little more acting practice. I cried at the end.
+ Sakuran - i picked this movie because it had a cool cover. it was a REALLY artsy, kinda crazy Japanese movie about a SASSSSSSSSSSSSY girl who becomes an Oiran (top Geisha) in the red light disctrict. But she's only trying to become one because she's trying to piss off other people and not because she actually wants to.. and at the end she's like fuck all this shit. haha. So anyway, the story was so-so but I loved her character and I loved the costumes and I loved the set and I loved the MUSIC. So it was all good.
+ Burn After Reading - quirky with some funny parts, but I was not impressed. I got bored at the end and didn't care about the characters anymore.
+ Gama no Abura (Toad's Oil) - I only watched this movie because it was in the top rankings and Eita is in it (my new favorite actor in Japan maybe).. and it had a cool cover. But it turned out to be REALLY good and I cried at the end. It's about a rich day trader father who's kinda immature and his son (Eita) gets into an accident... it's kind of a quirky movie with all of these people around the father dealing with the son's accident.
+ Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai (I want to become a Shellfish) - the next few movies i watched a lot further back and I may have talked about them already. so sorry if i did! anyway this movie is pretty good but SO DEPRESSING - I actually could NOT stop crying for a good deal of the movie. It's about a man (played by Nakai of SMAP) who is wrongfully accused of terrible war crimes in post WWII Japan. SO DEPRESSING.
+ Koizora - this is a movie based off of cellphone novels - stories written by young women targeted at young women so of course it's a love story and is sent out every week or whatever to your cell phone and sometimes gets published and sometimes becomes a movie. Anyway, it was SUPER cute romantic until EVERYTHING WENT WRONG and then it was depressing. I still don't know if I liked it or not. Maybe I did.
+ Boku wa Imoto ni Koi o suru - I only watched this movie because MatsuJun from Arashi is in it. It's kind of older, but I think it's pretty well known. It's about twins (boy and girl) who fall in love.. oops.. and their like struggles with this fact. It was pretty quiet.. cute.. sad.. mm. yeah.

OK I have talked WAY too much for one post. ^_^ I have to eat and get ready to go out! Hope to talk to you again soon! heart!

2010-02-04T08:43:00.004-06:00

I have a headache?
Fridays are gonna be long..
I want some purin.

Still working on the discipline and mean-face thing.
I hope i'm not getting sick, and I hope it gets warmer soon!
BTW I forgot to mention that I saw my Uncle's family last weekend and it was really nice!
But I didn't get my hair dyed like I wanted.. boo.. why aren't hair salons open on Mondays??
And i'm starting to REALLY plan out my weekends with trips and stuff.. but I need to remember to make time to study my Kanji!
I'm having fun gradually skyping people! I hope there will be more Skyping to come! ^_^ yay
Still not a proper post, sorry! haha

2010-02-01T19:47:00.002-06:00

I HAVE INTERNET!
after waiting and waiting..
now i'm connected!

Finally after 2 months of patiently waiting.. going to the sketchy internet cafe across the street.. and sitting in awkward places in my apartment stealing other people's internet.. and after waiting FIVE HOURS yesterday for the internet man to just come LOOK at the port.. I FINALLY have it!

Japan is pretty awesome but if it fails at one thing it is INTERNET.

Maybe now I can put up my pictures, skype with people, answer emails properly, make proper posts, know what's going on, etc etc etc!

2010-01-29T08:27:00.002-06:00

the word of the week
is "discipline" all the way!
work on my MEAN FACE!

2010-01-26T09:03:00.002-06:00

Momentum slowing..
trying to get things in order..
but no time for breaks!

The days are long and
i'm getting tired of things..?
I should relax more.

2010-01-24T06:55:00.004-06:00

Fun Canadians!
Karaoke all night long!
Jamie & Robots!

Pretty much sums up this weekend. A proper update to come soon!

ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

I'm getting the internet on February 1st!!!!!! YES!!! FINALLY!! Let's hope that nothing goes wrong!

2010-01-16T23:51:00.002-06:00

Kyoto: up all night.

Cold, but there's good atmosphere.

What to see today?

Chillin with Keziah in Kyoto!!!

2010-01-11T08:12:00.004-06:00

How I love day trips -
like Himeji to see Mike
run around castles.

Keziah came to stay for the weekend in Kobe, and I got to show her a side of Kobe that is a little sketchier.. with it’s weird alleys, lots of awesome food, and mini-mafia-motorcycle-gangs who have drag races on the street outside my apartment window at 3am. Next weekend I’ll go visit Keziah in Kyoto and see where she lives. I love how close we are to each other.

Yesterday we took the train with Vanessa to Himeji to watch Mike (another NET friend through other NET friends.. haha small amity world!) run a marathon around the Himeji castle. We didn’t have time to go into the castle but it was a nice day and we met lots of new people and got to see lots of cute families and Mike looking like a funny white guy run the race haha! It was great.

Afterwards we went to a Brazilian restaurant where a cute little old man brought us like 1235467 kinds of MEAT to us and we were SUPER STUFFED. Despite being super stuffed we went to an awesome little place to have really good coffee and cake and conversation. Yum~ all in all a it was a very good day.

When we came back to Kobe and watched a few movies I rented with my Tsutaya (kind of like Blockbuster) card. (So this is where my money goes.. travelling, food, and movies..) We watched “Crying out love from the center of the world” (SAPPY TEARJERKER OMG) and “Ponyo” (CUTE but SO RANDOM). It was pretty great.

So ends another weekend. Work and weekends fly by so fast. I’ve already been here almost 2 months!!!! What if this year ends and I haven’t done everything!! I’m trying to plan my trips but there are so many variables to consider.. like when, who’s coming, how much time/money I should make sure I have, etc..

Anyway. Despite the fact that I still don’t REALLY know lots of things about Kobe, I feel like such a resident of Japan these days. With having an apartment, bank account, ID card, health card, hair salon membership with a fave stylist, a travel agent, a dry cleaners point card, funkypolis karaoke member card, internet café coupons, movie rental card, commuters subway pass, annnnnnnnd fave restaurants within 10 min of the apartment where Vanessa and I already have “usual”s haha. Now all I need is a point card for my grocery store and secret fave café/bar or something. I’ll need to find the best places soon so I can take you all when you visit me and not just the touristy spots everyone goes to.

2010-01-06T05:27:00.009-06:00

Tokyo was a blast!

This is how we bring in the

year 2010!

View of Asakusa from our hotel room.

Our group out for some drinks in Shibuya.

Me, Brittani, her friend Katie, & Travis outside of Sensoji in Asakusa.

HALF NAKED PICTURES OF ARASHI IN A SUBWAY STATION!!!

Dinner at the tightest place in Roppongi.

Marine Tower in Yokohama. Very romantic!

Me & Damon at Yasukini Shrine.

Today is the last day of my winter vacation in Japan! Tomorrow I have to go back to Amity and to teaching my kids more English!

This vacation was one of the MOST memorable weeks i've ever had in my life! It would just take forever to write it all down. I'll just go over the highlights~

**********12/29**********

Spent the day with Vanessa watching dramas and talking about life. Ohhhh and packing! Vanessa was really sweet and made me a travel pack (magazine with Arashi on the cover, peach tea, pocky, and an orange) - it was so thoughtful and made me so happy!

When 9pm rolled around I made my way to the Sannomiya bus terminal so I could get on my bus to Tokyo.. I found a place that I thought was right and sat there for a while (the bus departure time was 10:10pm). Around 10pm I started getting worried because my bus wasn't appearing on the display board. I went outside and asked a conductor who told me I was at the WRONG terminal and I had 5 minutes to run to the right one. SO I ran in my boots as fast as I could down the street and attacked a bus driver who directed me to the right bus. I made it with like 1 minute to spare! I have no idea what I would have done if I missed my bus to Tokyo that night. The one sad thing about that was I left the package Vanessa made me in the other terminal... ahhhh I was so sad.

**********12/30**********

8 hours later I arrived in Tokyo Station at 7:30 am! I met up with Erin & Keziah and we just chilled around Ueno the whole day. It was so nice to finally see them again and catch up on our individual Amity lives.

Around 3pm I checked into my hotel in Asakusa and it was AMAZING. Not expensive, HUGE room with 2 huge beds, tatami mat floors, and a balcony with the most gorgeous view of Asakusa. If only that was my apartment! haha.

Around 6pm Brittani (+ her friend Katie), Travis, & Jess arrived~! Then we went down to Shibuya to barhop with Lori (+ her boyfriend Richard) & Jacqueline~! Great start to our Tokyo vacation!

**********12/31**********

For some reason my hotel group (Me, Travis, Brittani, & Katie) woke up REALLY REALLY EARLY. We decided to chill around so we went to Sensoji which is right where we were in Asakusa (bought a lot of cute things, and Travis got yelled at by a random lady) & then we made our way down to the Meiji Gingu shrine (got some more charms, and had a hilarious run-in with a group from Germany) & I met up with Damon from Wash U!

After that it was time to get ready to party for New Year's so we all went back to our hotel and got ready~! Everyone came over and we took the train (where we got yelled at by the train conductor) down to Shibuya again for dinner.

After dinner we went to a club called Legato which was fun and then spent the whole night out having fun and partying~! Happy New Year~!!!!!!!!

**********1/1**********

Our hotel group woke up early AGAIN because our hotel room was so HOT for some reason. We recounted our night and I just want to say right now that our group just could NOT stop laughing and having a good time the ENTIRE time we were together in Tokyo. It was THAT much fun - my abs still hurt I swear. So many jokes (HONTO?!? Anoo.. Anoonee.. That's SO ___ of you!).. I needed a vacation from my Tokyo vacation.

We decided to take it easy so in the afternoon we kind of walked around the Emperor's Palace (everything is CLOSED in Tokyo around New Year's BTW so if you want to be touristy don't go then!) and tried to find stuff like Harajuku & the Tokyo Tower but it kind of failed. We DID find a subway station with GIANT HALF NAKED POSTERS OF ARASHI!!!! I serious SCREAMED - STOPPED - and took PICTURES with the other 100 girls in the station. It made my day. Until I found out that there are rumors about Nino being gay!!! WHAT!!!!

Anyway we eventually went to Roppongi where we ate dinner at this place where the decor is SO AWESOME Quintin Tarantino copied it for the famous scene in Kill Bill vol.1 where Uma Thurman cuts up 1000 Japanese guys. It was a great izakaya where we all ate, talked, and had fun in our own room upstairs.

After that we met with more people in our group like Colin & Josh for karaoke. Again - a blast!

To top off the night our hotel room opened up a bottle of (kind of gross) champagne and went to sleep.

**********1/2**********

Katie left for home early, and we had to check out of our hotel so we got up early again. We (me, Brittani, Travis, & Jess) decided to go to Yokohama for the day and we met up with Travis' friend Charles.

We spent like half of that day on trains. Sigh. But Yokohama was so much more fun than I had expected! I thought it was going to be like a not-as-cool-version of Kobe because it's also a port city, but it was so awesome in it's own way. We went to the Ramen Museum and had the best ramen of our lives, it was so much fun in there and so worth it. We also went to Chinatown and had bubble tea (yum) and then went up the Marine Tower (SO ROMANTIC).

Jess & I said goodbye to Travis & Brittani (I cried.. so lame) before we went back to Ueno in Tokyo (or at least TRIED to after like 2 hours..) to chill with the other girls (I was going to spend my last night with them too). We also chilled in Roppongi and it was another exciting night to say the least!

**********1/3**********

We had to check out of another hotel and I guess our crazy week had pretty much caught up with us. I said goodbye to the rest of my training friends (ahh so sad.. when will I see you again?) and went to hang out with Damon for the rest of the day.

We went to Yasukuni shrine - I wasn't expecting that much, I just wanted to see it because I learned about it in Prof. Watt's WWII class at Wash U. But it was GREAT! Lots of people, lots of stands, masked dancers on stage with music, a lion walking around scaring children and biting people to give them good luck, fortunes, wishes, etc.

Then Damon took me to Ginza where we just talked, killed time, ate at an ALL YOU CAN EAT CAKE & PASTA PLACE, and everything. It was SO NICE to see him and kind of reconnect with someone from Wash U - and not just new people (though I love them too).

At the end of the night I had to pick up my luggage and go to Tokyo station to find my overnight bus back to Kobe. This one was DEFINATELY not as nice as the one I took up to Tokyo.. and I decided. If I have the money I will Shinkansen the rest of my long trips in Japan because overnight buses are NOT FUN.

**********1/4**********

9 hours later I arrived in Kobe and passed out for the rest of the day. When I woke up I chilled and gossiped with Vanessa. OH it was so nice to just relax with her (and watch more dramas).

**********1/5**********

Yesterday I met up with my aunt and we were together in various coffee shops for 6 hours! I mean, she did most of the talking but it was SO NICE to see her! I didn't think she wanted to see me but we talked about like everything! It was great. Next time I have to visit my oldest uncle!

After that I met up with Vanessa, Shuko, Matt & Mike for hotpot and karaoke! More fun! haha.. apparantly relaxing is not my thing.

**********1/6**********

Today I ate Kappa-sushi with Vanessa & Hiro. It's this cheap, yummy conveyor belt sushi place.. it's so cool! If you order something from this little monitor a mini shinkansen will bring you your order from where they made it!!! SO CUTE!!! There is another cool sushi place I want to go in Kobe sometime, it's also conveyor belt but instead of the belt it's little boats going in circles with your food over a little mechanical stream! Visit me and we can go!!

**********

WOw.. I guess that was more than just the highlights cause it took forever to type up! haha..　I wish I could put up pictures.. but I STILL DO NOT HAVE MY OWN INTERNET!!!! AHH!! Soon.. I hope.

As for our next big training group vacation.. GOLDEN WEEK IN OKINAWAAAA~!!!!!!!! Honto!!!

2009-12-28T22:16:00.001-06:00

I love winter break

Tonight I leave for Tokyo

- should finish packing

Sunday I was supposed to visit my Aunt’s house but she had a cold so I couldn’t go visit….

Sooo instead I had a pretty good and kiiiiiiind of productive start to my break! First, I went to Sannomiya with the intention of buying a rug.. and discovered that it was the countdown sale at Loft! So instead of buying a rug (which was maybe 50 bucks and too big and funny colored anyway) I bought 2 soft round cushions that were half price and a huge “accent” thing which was also half price and is actually a weird giant stuffed cat/bear thing that is related to Dottard who was mentioned in the last post.. haha. He’s yellow/white/gray plaid and AWESOME and his name is Boston. Don’t judge me! Pictures soon.

Then I spent FOREVER in the “diary” section! The “Diary” section is actually the “2010 Planner” section and it was HUGE and PACKED. You will not believe this but I ran into Maria there! She was like standing right next to me.. just like when I ran into Rie in the card section of Loft LAST weekend haha.. if you’re in Sannomia Loft long enough you will run into someone you know! Crazy. Hopefully I can meet up with her and Rie again sometime. Anyway, I bought a really cute planner/diary with month and week pages so I can stop using my bootleg mini notebook. It’s kind of amazing.. it also has pages in the back with subway maps of Tokyo, Osaka, and a few other places (there’s a small one of Kobe but I don’t really need it anymore! Yay!).

Thennnnnnnn I had this HUGE Loft bag to carry around.. but I went down the Center-gai Arcade.. and stopped in a store with 50% off almost everything and bought myself some skinny jeans. I wasn’t really planning on buying jeans so soon in Japan.. but I’ve lost so much weight it was becoming a serious necessity. That.. or a belt. A little further down the arcade I spotted the CUTEST BOOTS IN THE WORLD and they were 20% off and in my size.. sooo.. yes I bought them. They are almost knee length, black, and has a giant black bow with white trim around each ankle. I think it was a good purchase. I’ve been needing new boots since the zippers broke on my old pair and I’ve worn out the heels of those too.

Then I came back to Itayado where I went to rent movies/dramas with Vanessa. We ate AMAZING pizza (half Dracula and half seafood mix – Austin would love it) with beer while watching 4 episodes (we didn’t mean to watch to many I swear!) of the drama “Last Friends” which I mentioned in this a long time ago. She’s really enjoying the drama which is great because I’ve been trying to tell people how good it is. I’m so happy that we can do stuff like this together! The start of a new tradition!!! Haha.

Yesterday I FINALLY got my ARC card! Now I can finally sign up for internet, and other things like renting movies/dramas haha. I feel like such a resident of Japan now that I have it.. it’s kind of crazy. I’ve been here over a month now and I still can’t believe it sometimes.

After that I went to Sannomiya again and got my hair cut & shampooed! It’s so much shorter now but it looks really nice and feels so much lighter! The hairstylist (who was recommended to me by Vanessa) was so much fun to talk to and he let me practice my Japanese on him. He’s actually good at English because he lived in both England and Los Angeles before. The place was so stylish and still so much cheaper than other places (I think I may have mentioned it before) and my hairstylist is one of the top stylists so he was like 500 yen more expensive but still it was like 2500 yen. I might go back and get my hair colored there too instead of doing it myself.

Tonight I am leaving for TOKYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

exciteddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope I don’t get lost!

I hope not everything is closed!

I hope I don’t go broke!

I hope there is no drama!

I hope it is tons of fun!

2009-12-26T06:10:00.005-06:00

Me and Dottard, the gift I got for Reiko for Secret Santa at work! I want my own now!

The Rilakuma cell phone holder (plus my cell phone) I got from Kumi for Secert Santa at work!

Got my 1st paycheck!
Now starts my 1st vacation!
I'm so excited!!!!

To do list~!
1) Call aunt's house CHECK!
2) Pick up Alien Registration Card CHECK!
3) Send mail to internet company CHECK!
4) Go shopping for jeans, shoes, and rug or cushions CHECK!
5) Cleaning the apartment
6) Laundry CHECK!
7) Get a haircut CHECK!
8) Finish planning lessons for 4 classes
9) Pack for TOKYO!!!! ^_^ CHECK!
10) GO TO TOKYO!!!!!! ^_^

2009-12-23T10:06:00.007-06:00

Me & Jamie @ the gate of Shitenno-ji.

Emperor's birthday!
That means.. a day holiday!
Train to Osaka.

It's crazy how easy it is to just hop on a train and go to another city for 690 yen! Plus it only took about 45 minutes to get from where I live in Kobe to Osaka station on the super fast train. I also just want to say that Osaka station is so far the most confusing station i've ever been to. How many circles did Jamie and I make today? haha.

So yes, I took the day off and went to Osaka to pay Jamie a visit! After lunch we TRIED to go to a temple called Shitenno-ji. We made it fine but it was RIGHT before closing time and it started to rain.. it gave everything a kind of haunted feel haha. It would have been nicer if we had gotten there earlier on a nicer day I guess, but it was still interesting.. it was a very old school temple.
Then we tried to go to Tenno-ji Park's conservatory but that was also closed.

So what do you do when everything is closed? EAT CAKE & PARFAIT AND KARAOKE!!! haha so that's what we did. It was funnnnnnnnnnnn I love karaoke and singing arashi songs and eating cake and parfait!

So i've also decided that I love Jamie and I like going to visit her in Osaka.. but I LOVE KOBE so much!!! I'm so glad I was put here.

Tomorrow is Secret Santa at work (because it is Christmas eve)! We also have to hide the gift around the school and give the person clues.. I wonder who has me! I'm kind of sad to part with the gift I got for my person. This just means I have to go buy my own! haha..
Thus continues my non-lesson-filled-working-week.