So I sorta dropped the ball on this blog. Oops. Well I was thinking of writing some stuff about applying for JET, common issues in Japan, the JET thing vs the private ALT thing. And I thought it might be a decent idea to put it in a public place, just in case anyone can benefit from it.
I'll also perhaps post links to some of my vlogs I made here. Just to have it all in one place.
Any thoughts from the net?
Give me a shout at KHorselvr@aol.com
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Sunday, November 18, 2012
so the first graders don't even know their own entertainers and sports players. What kind of middle schoolers are you? You should at least know some of them. And the weird part is they do. They are like, selectively blind to their own popular culture.
One of the third year girls was petting my sweater in class today. I agree, it's very soft and nice.
The knob to change the air settings in my car is still broke. As a result I can't get it on defrost. This is bad as winter is coming. I'll have to take it back in. Which is annoying as I have to drive an hour to do so. But it can't be till next week as I'm going out of town.
I'm reading some books I haven't read in a long while. It's fun. Some of the only books I've ever really liked written in the first person.
And now the sky is getting really dark. Cloudy-mess I hope, it's much too early to be getting this dark.
- KT ケイティ
One of the third year girls was petting my sweater in class today. I agree, it's very soft and nice.
The knob to change the air settings in my car is still broke. As a result I can't get it on defrost. This is bad as winter is coming. I'll have to take it back in. Which is annoying as I have to drive an hour to do so. But it can't be till next week as I'm going out of town.
I'm reading some books I haven't read in a long while. It's fun. Some of the only books I've ever really liked written in the first person.
And now the sky is getting really dark. Cloudy-mess I hope, it's much too early to be getting this dark.
- KT ケイティ
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
So I'm not good at keeping resolutions right from the get go. But here is me trying.
Today although I've had too classes I've mostlyt been studying (ie giving myself a headache with giant blocks of text) and doing a little writing. No I'm not doing NaNoWriMo. Good for all the people who are, but it's really not my thing. For me I need motivation but not pressure to meet a deadline to write. I need to feel free to have it come in spurts and sputters. Which it does. Frequently. And then I'll have a day where I wrote a couple pages in an hour.
Anyway best for me to keep to my own schedule when writing. Besides what I'm writing now isn't novel material, just fun!
The JLPT is coming if they ever send me my test ID. So I'm studying, it's showing a few promising results but I'm still struggling with the first section where we have to use the right kanji or reading, or pick a synonym. Reading is actually much improved I think. I did 19 out of 21 in the sample questions in my booklet this morning. And I'm not really worried about listening.
It's snowing outside on and off. It's the first snow of the season. I guess I'm in a good mood. Or rather I'm rather, neutral today. It's not so much as I'm in a good mood or a bad one. Today I'm just, living. Which is nice in its own way.
Tonight is nabe and kotatsu time, which will almost certainly make me happy. And I get to sleep in a little tomorrow, which will also make me happy.
I wonder how my former students are doing, and if any of them will apply for the AJET scholarship. I think one girl here definitely will.
- KT ケイティ
Today although I've had too classes I've mostlyt been studying (ie giving myself a headache with giant blocks of text) and doing a little writing. No I'm not doing NaNoWriMo. Good for all the people who are, but it's really not my thing. For me I need motivation but not pressure to meet a deadline to write. I need to feel free to have it come in spurts and sputters. Which it does. Frequently. And then I'll have a day where I wrote a couple pages in an hour.
Anyway best for me to keep to my own schedule when writing. Besides what I'm writing now isn't novel material, just fun!
The JLPT is coming if they ever send me my test ID. So I'm studying, it's showing a few promising results but I'm still struggling with the first section where we have to use the right kanji or reading, or pick a synonym. Reading is actually much improved I think. I did 19 out of 21 in the sample questions in my booklet this morning. And I'm not really worried about listening.
It's snowing outside on and off. It's the first snow of the season. I guess I'm in a good mood. Or rather I'm rather, neutral today. It's not so much as I'm in a good mood or a bad one. Today I'm just, living. Which is nice in its own way.
Tonight is nabe and kotatsu time, which will almost certainly make me happy. And I get to sleep in a little tomorrow, which will also make me happy.
I wonder how my former students are doing, and if any of them will apply for the AJET scholarship. I think one girl here definitely will.
- KT ケイティ
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Video blogs hooray!
And
There are more of these to come, I shot a partial vlog while on the way to Hiroshima (creatively propping up the camera while driving). I did some fandom writing this week to go on the other journal, and now I'm thinking I'll do something writing here, before more fandom writing. Doing my best to try this Daily Truth thing, I imagine there will be some fits and starts at the beginning as I adjust to doing it though.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Two Weeks of Crazy Part 1
So I missed a week in there. But I think you'll excuse me when you read about what I've been doing for the past two weeks.
Ok so I wrote the last blog before lots of things happened. The week following that blog was pretty normal, except for our Thursday holiday. Even after all this time, the fact that Japan has several National Holidays that fall all by themselves in the middle of the week is still just a little weird to me.
But that's Japan, at any time I'm only about 80% certain whats going on.
But after that, things proceeded as usual on Friday. But Saturday was a working day for me, as it was OMGHuge中's Culture Day. So instead of sleeping in I woke up at the usual time and went into work. So for those of you who don't know, Culture Festivals in Junior High School revolve primary around the singing competition between the classes. And because this school is SO big (15 homerooms total), this goes on for a REALLY long time. Each homeroom sings two songs, a required song for their grade and a free song. So that's 30 songs total at this school, and a lot of them are repeats. Its kinda boring, not gonna lie. But 3-4 really cutely dedicated their performance to their homeroom teacher who is about to be 60 and retire next year, and they ended up winning the day. In the afternoon they do things like club demonstrations and showing off projects they have been doing. And during that part my four girls who have been practicing for the speech contest had a dry run of their speeches. So I was pretty involved in that. Also the Rhythmic Gymnastics club presentation is always really good.
And straight after the Culture Day I went home and hopped in my car, and drove down to Masuda. That's all the way on the other end of Shimane, and Shimane is Looooong. It's about a 3 hour drive, if you are me and you speed a lot. I was going down their because my friend Jessica and I were going to drive to Hiroshima the next day for a Tackey & Tsubasa concert (yey!). But now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I drove instead of taking the train.
But I made it there, and we had a good evening in Masuda, having yummy dinner and watching tv/DVDs. And the drive to Hiroshima was uneventful until we got to Hiroshima and kept missing our turns. But eventually after much adjusting the GPS on my phone and turning around we did make it. And had a lovely day shopping and poking around Hiroshima before the concert. And the concert was pretty awesome too. But I already wrote about that elsewhere, needless to say I made Jessica a fan too! The next day we spent looking and looking for mexican food but couldn't find it! OR couldn't find one that was open for lunch. But we did end up finding this cute little cafe where they served yummy sandwiches, pizzas, and burgers. And had cute English speaking waiters. I will have to go back there someday!
After we went home and I turned around and drove BACK to my place is where my weeks of crazy really began (really why did I not take the train?). See I'd taken that Monday off cause of the Culture Festival, and I just decided to go ahead and use my compensatory leave. And Tuesday was Rowdy中's Culture Festival (which was honestly quite vanilla this year). And then on Wednesday I went with Oshare先生 to a speech contest in another city to cheer on my girl. That actually was a lot more trouble than it should've been for me to go, and reaffirmed that my motto in Japan should be 'Just do it, and then if you have to apologize for it later'. Because getting permission can be a PAIN in this country.
My girl couldn't win, it was really too bad. But she worked really hard and I thought she did a really good job. And I had a really fun ride down to the contest with my teacher. It was interesting to get to talk to him like that outside the confines of the office. I think I learned a lot of things about him.
And then Thursday and Friday was the Mid-Year Conference for ALTs in Shimane. Which Oshare先生 also attended. That's always a fun event because all of the JET ALTs get together, and its fun to see everyone, and I feel like that conference is probably the most useful event of the year as far as work is concerned. After that Jessica stayed the weekend with me, in addition to a bunch of us having yummy dinner on Thursday night.
That Saturday was ALSO a working day for me, because it was the second speech contest. This one was in town, and I had three girls participating. It was a big contest, and went on all afternoon. Only one of my girls won a prize, but I was so proud of all of them. They really went for it! Jessica came with to that, and then together with Heather we all had dinner and saw a movie at Youme Town. We saw the Three Musketeers. It was fun, but I had to suspend my disbelief HARD the whole movie. And on Sunday we just relaxed until she could get the train home.
It was a busy week, but the BIG event at my school was still to come...
Ok so I wrote the last blog before lots of things happened. The week following that blog was pretty normal, except for our Thursday holiday. Even after all this time, the fact that Japan has several National Holidays that fall all by themselves in the middle of the week is still just a little weird to me.
But that's Japan, at any time I'm only about 80% certain whats going on.
But after that, things proceeded as usual on Friday. But Saturday was a working day for me, as it was OMGHuge中's Culture Day. So instead of sleeping in I woke up at the usual time and went into work. So for those of you who don't know, Culture Festivals in Junior High School revolve primary around the singing competition between the classes. And because this school is SO big (15 homerooms total), this goes on for a REALLY long time. Each homeroom sings two songs, a required song for their grade and a free song. So that's 30 songs total at this school, and a lot of them are repeats. Its kinda boring, not gonna lie. But 3-4 really cutely dedicated their performance to their homeroom teacher who is about to be 60 and retire next year, and they ended up winning the day. In the afternoon they do things like club demonstrations and showing off projects they have been doing. And during that part my four girls who have been practicing for the speech contest had a dry run of their speeches. So I was pretty involved in that. Also the Rhythmic Gymnastics club presentation is always really good.
And straight after the Culture Day I went home and hopped in my car, and drove down to Masuda. That's all the way on the other end of Shimane, and Shimane is Looooong. It's about a 3 hour drive, if you are me and you speed a lot. I was going down their because my friend Jessica and I were going to drive to Hiroshima the next day for a Tackey & Tsubasa concert (yey!). But now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I drove instead of taking the train.
But I made it there, and we had a good evening in Masuda, having yummy dinner and watching tv/DVDs. And the drive to Hiroshima was uneventful until we got to Hiroshima and kept missing our turns. But eventually after much adjusting the GPS on my phone and turning around we did make it. And had a lovely day shopping and poking around Hiroshima before the concert. And the concert was pretty awesome too. But I already wrote about that elsewhere, needless to say I made Jessica a fan too! The next day we spent looking and looking for mexican food but couldn't find it! OR couldn't find one that was open for lunch. But we did end up finding this cute little cafe where they served yummy sandwiches, pizzas, and burgers. And had cute English speaking waiters. I will have to go back there someday!
After we went home and I turned around and drove BACK to my place is where my weeks of crazy really began (really why did I not take the train?). See I'd taken that Monday off cause of the Culture Festival, and I just decided to go ahead and use my compensatory leave. And Tuesday was Rowdy中's Culture Festival (which was honestly quite vanilla this year). And then on Wednesday I went with Oshare先生 to a speech contest in another city to cheer on my girl. That actually was a lot more trouble than it should've been for me to go, and reaffirmed that my motto in Japan should be 'Just do it, and then if you have to apologize for it later'. Because getting permission can be a PAIN in this country.
My girl couldn't win, it was really too bad. But she worked really hard and I thought she did a really good job. And I had a really fun ride down to the contest with my teacher. It was interesting to get to talk to him like that outside the confines of the office. I think I learned a lot of things about him.
And then Thursday and Friday was the Mid-Year Conference for ALTs in Shimane. Which Oshare先生 also attended. That's always a fun event because all of the JET ALTs get together, and its fun to see everyone, and I feel like that conference is probably the most useful event of the year as far as work is concerned. After that Jessica stayed the weekend with me, in addition to a bunch of us having yummy dinner on Thursday night.
That Saturday was ALSO a working day for me, because it was the second speech contest. This one was in town, and I had three girls participating. It was a big contest, and went on all afternoon. Only one of my girls won a prize, but I was so proud of all of them. They really went for it! Jessica came with to that, and then together with Heather we all had dinner and saw a movie at Youme Town. We saw the Three Musketeers. It was fun, but I had to suspend my disbelief HARD the whole movie. And on Sunday we just relaxed until she could get the train home.
It was a busy week, but the BIG event at my school was still to come...
Sunday, October 30, 2011
A (Tentative) Resolution (Even though its not New Years)
Ok, so I'm not good at this blogging or vlogging stuff. And I really don't know why. I LIKE to write. The vlogging may be because, well frequently I am lacking interesting things that I CAN film and safely post publicly. Also because I'm weighing the idea of a new camera, which I'd like to use for that purpose so I can stop carrying so many electronics around. Its probably just laziness, as is my problem in all things. BUT in an attempt to remedy that (I'm never gonna get ahead in life unless I can learn to turn it off more reliably) I'm going to make a resolution now. But its kinda tentative, so if I don't keep it don't be too surprised. I tend to have a lot of free time on weekends, so its going to be my goal to type a blog entry once a week. Sometimes it may also be video entries. I don't know who is listening out there, truth be told, but here goes.
Ok. So. This week in Japan.
In all honesty, this was a fairly standard week for me. Coming off from last weekend, where I went to the onsen and then dinner with some friends from Unnan, it was the pretty standard get up and go to work routine. Its been kinda grey on and off lately, but the weather has cooled down a lot. Fall is here, thank god. I'm a big fan of this weather, for the sort time we will have it. When its not gray and rainy, the sky is a lovely blue and everything else is still green. The air is delightfully cool and crisp. Someday soon the leaves may start changing colors. While on general purposes I really hate San-in weather, when its nice it is REALLY nice. For instance on Thursday it was one of those rare days where it was clear enough to see all the way to Mt. Daisen from Rowdy中. Amazing.
I took a sick day for my horrific cramps, thank you body, on Wednesday but I was back at full strength on Thursday. And on Friday I had elementary school visits. And they were to schools the feed one of my junior highs which is a VERY rare thing. Even more rare, one of the other ALTs joined me at these schools. All in all that was a successful day teaching. But I was SUPER amazing that morning and forgot I was doing that instead of going to TeenyTiny中 like I usually do, and got up and hurried my butt there. I didn't remember I wasn't supposed to be there until I pulled up and saw the bus that was taking my 1st years on their field trip. Ugh. At that point I just did a u-turn and went back home. Elementary school visits typically don't start till later, and I had just missed my opportunity to sleep in. Damn.
Did I mention the kids were going on a field trip to the local nuclear power plant? It sounded all sorts of interesting and I really wish I could have gone.
I am now considering buying a new heater for the winter, and I think I have picked one from amazon japan. Free shipping yey. Oh, and a rug, cause while nice the wood floor is FREEZING in winter.
Have a mentioned that I broke down and bought a LCD TV here? I got a pretty good deal on it, and in the end I'm really happy with it.
For future reference, I think I have finally stabilized all my code names for school related things in my head. So here is the run-down:
✧I work at three JHSs (Junior High School)right? They are, in order from largest to smallest - OMGHuge中, Rowdy中, and TeenyTiny中.
✧At OMGHuge中 I work with four (and one extra at the moment) JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English), this has changed since last year and is well...kinda in flux. But they are OMUTea先生(woman), OF先生(man), Oshare先生(man), PYT先生(woman), and Y²先生(woman).
✧At Rowdy中 I work with only one JTE and that is Giggles先生
✧And TeenyTiny中 I also work with only one JTE and that is SmileyK先生, and that has changed since last year when it was Majime先生.
✧And my supervisor is the ever wonderful K-san.
I suppose if you actually know me and these people, you'd probably be able to guess who is who but I think this preserves some level on anonymity and doesn't just...use their initials or something. They are for the most part nicknames based on various aspects of their personality or my experiences with them.
Ok. So. This week in Japan.
In all honesty, this was a fairly standard week for me. Coming off from last weekend, where I went to the onsen and then dinner with some friends from Unnan, it was the pretty standard get up and go to work routine. Its been kinda grey on and off lately, but the weather has cooled down a lot. Fall is here, thank god. I'm a big fan of this weather, for the sort time we will have it. When its not gray and rainy, the sky is a lovely blue and everything else is still green. The air is delightfully cool and crisp. Someday soon the leaves may start changing colors. While on general purposes I really hate San-in weather, when its nice it is REALLY nice. For instance on Thursday it was one of those rare days where it was clear enough to see all the way to Mt. Daisen from Rowdy中. Amazing.
I took a sick day for my horrific cramps, thank you body, on Wednesday but I was back at full strength on Thursday. And on Friday I had elementary school visits. And they were to schools the feed one of my junior highs which is a VERY rare thing. Even more rare, one of the other ALTs joined me at these schools. All in all that was a successful day teaching. But I was SUPER amazing that morning and forgot I was doing that instead of going to TeenyTiny中 like I usually do, and got up and hurried my butt there. I didn't remember I wasn't supposed to be there until I pulled up and saw the bus that was taking my 1st years on their field trip. Ugh. At that point I just did a u-turn and went back home. Elementary school visits typically don't start till later, and I had just missed my opportunity to sleep in. Damn.
Did I mention the kids were going on a field trip to the local nuclear power plant? It sounded all sorts of interesting and I really wish I could have gone.
I am now considering buying a new heater for the winter, and I think I have picked one from amazon japan. Free shipping yey. Oh, and a rug, cause while nice the wood floor is FREEZING in winter.
Have a mentioned that I broke down and bought a LCD TV here? I got a pretty good deal on it, and in the end I'm really happy with it.
For future reference, I think I have finally stabilized all my code names for school related things in my head. So here is the run-down:
✧I work at three JHSs (Junior High School)right? They are, in order from largest to smallest - OMGHuge中, Rowdy中, and TeenyTiny中.
✧At OMGHuge中 I work with four (and one extra at the moment) JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English), this has changed since last year and is well...kinda in flux. But they are OMUTea先生(woman), OF先生(man), Oshare先生(man), PYT先生(woman), and Y²先生(woman).
✧At Rowdy中 I work with only one JTE and that is Giggles先生
✧And TeenyTiny中 I also work with only one JTE and that is SmileyK先生, and that has changed since last year when it was Majime先生.
✧And my supervisor is the ever wonderful K-san.
I suppose if you actually know me and these people, you'd probably be able to guess who is who but I think this preserves some level on anonymity and doesn't just...use their initials or something. They are for the most part nicknames based on various aspects of their personality or my experiences with them.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Blah blah blah, I'm terrible at keeping up with this Blah
so its newly August. I AM currently editing a new video for the vlogging attempt, so its not like those intervening months went completely undocumented. But still. Why do I suck at this? I like to write, I'm even somewhat good at it I like to think.
Taking a personal day because I had some mild insomnia last night. I did manage to sleep all morning, but I've never been good at this sleeping in the afternoon thing. So hopefully tonight will be better. So it has come to pass that I have been in Japan for a whole year now, without having gone home. Its kinda weird, but certainly interesting food for thought as the new ALT in my little town arrives. She seems like a cool chick, heres the hoping we'll get on great! This summer has been a bit of an excercise in trying to get myself out there more, since its become rather clear that my living situation isn't about to change. Time enough for that next year, and more on that at a later date. Safe to say I've made some tentative descisions that seem to be best for my own personal wellbeing, and well, we'll just have to see where things go from here.
Corey was here recently, and we had some fun little adventures running around Japan, we both took a bit of a punch in the bankbook, but it was all good fun. We saw Erin in Kamisu and Lexi in Hiroshima. And I'll see Lexi again soon, as we are attending a Kissmy concert in her prefecture next week. It was fun hanging in Kamisu with Erin since she will be going home shortly, and I wish she weren't. I've seen her quite a bit in the past six months, considering how far apart we live. I'll be sad when we can't hang out anymore, no matter how inconvenient the travel is from Kantou to Chugoku. And it was great to see Corey, and have the chance to go crazy in Japan again. I was thinking we wouldn't get that chance so, I'm really really glad. The only thing I really wish we could have done, but lacked time was to go to Osaka so I could show her around my favorite place in the whole wide world. But we had a good time in Tokyo and Shimane and Hiroshima, and lots of walking and sweating was done by all. Anyway, I'm gonna try and put together my video in a way thats not boring now! Maybe more later
Taking a personal day because I had some mild insomnia last night. I did manage to sleep all morning, but I've never been good at this sleeping in the afternoon thing. So hopefully tonight will be better. So it has come to pass that I have been in Japan for a whole year now, without having gone home. Its kinda weird, but certainly interesting food for thought as the new ALT in my little town arrives. She seems like a cool chick, heres the hoping we'll get on great! This summer has been a bit of an excercise in trying to get myself out there more, since its become rather clear that my living situation isn't about to change. Time enough for that next year, and more on that at a later date. Safe to say I've made some tentative descisions that seem to be best for my own personal wellbeing, and well, we'll just have to see where things go from here.
Corey was here recently, and we had some fun little adventures running around Japan, we both took a bit of a punch in the bankbook, but it was all good fun. We saw Erin in Kamisu and Lexi in Hiroshima. And I'll see Lexi again soon, as we are attending a Kissmy concert in her prefecture next week. It was fun hanging in Kamisu with Erin since she will be going home shortly, and I wish she weren't. I've seen her quite a bit in the past six months, considering how far apart we live. I'll be sad when we can't hang out anymore, no matter how inconvenient the travel is from Kantou to Chugoku. And it was great to see Corey, and have the chance to go crazy in Japan again. I was thinking we wouldn't get that chance so, I'm really really glad. The only thing I really wish we could have done, but lacked time was to go to Osaka so I could show her around my favorite place in the whole wide world. But we had a good time in Tokyo and Shimane and Hiroshima, and lots of walking and sweating was done by all. Anyway, I'm gonna try and put together my video in a way thats not boring now! Maybe more later
Monday, May 23, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
So there was supposed to be an entry before now
Ok so I was gonna make a video blog last month but obviously it didn't happen. A lot did happen last month though, as I'm sure everyone out there is aware. And between one thing and another I got really stressed, started doing what I do when stressed which is overeating a bit, lost all progress on that front and now I'm really irritated with myself about it.
So the first thing that happened in the end of the school year was over the course of two days both my computers harddrive and my external harddrive crashed. I managed to save most of the data on my computers drive thank god, but everything on my externals drive is gone. Some of it is backed up on my drive back in America. But anything I have added since I came here is gone. All in all it sucked hardcore. I learned my lesson last tine and most things were backed up, but then my backup failed too. What are you even supposed to do when that happens?
But I totally lucked out in that regard because my warranty was still valid...by 16 days! Man that was close. Not to mention they honor that warranty in Japan! Go Mac! So I was able to speak to people in English about it and they picked it up, took to be serviced in Hiroshima, and brought it back. No charge no questions asked. And I got a new battery, for free, not sure why.
I'm just glad my baby is back, especially with the crazy that has been this last month.
There will be a video post soon, I've already recorded it!
- Blogging on the go! The great Japan adventure continues...
So the first thing that happened in the end of the school year was over the course of two days both my computers harddrive and my external harddrive crashed. I managed to save most of the data on my computers drive thank god, but everything on my externals drive is gone. Some of it is backed up on my drive back in America. But anything I have added since I came here is gone. All in all it sucked hardcore. I learned my lesson last tine and most things were backed up, but then my backup failed too. What are you even supposed to do when that happens?
But I totally lucked out in that regard because my warranty was still valid...by 16 days! Man that was close. Not to mention they honor that warranty in Japan! Go Mac! So I was able to speak to people in English about it and they picked it up, took to be serviced in Hiroshima, and brought it back. No charge no questions asked. And I got a new battery, for free, not sure why.
I'm just glad my baby is back, especially with the crazy that has been this last month.
There will be a video post soon, I've already recorded it!
- Blogging on the go! The great Japan adventure continues...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
This may not be my homeland, but I love this country
I'm planning an update that has to do with the situation I had with my computer and so forth, as well as nice things like graduation season here. But I felt a to the point post was in order, for the people reading and for my own record of this trying time.
I am an American through and through, I would never consider leaving my home country permanently, because for all its troubles I love it. But pretty much the same thing goes for Japan. This place has been my home away from home. This land and these people have been extraordinarily giving of their time and have shared their lives, and their joy with me. After all that they have given me, its only right that I be with them in their suffering as well.
I love this place, and it goes way beyond the love of that teenage girl who loved to watch anime. Now not to overstate, I am not in danger in Shimane, and it is rather unlikely that I will be in danger here in the future from this. Facts are, I am roughly 460 miles from where this is happening. And based on what I have seen of satellites/radar in the weather patterns since I have been living here, its just not typical for the wind to blow from that direction. It mainly seems to blow from the continent towards the pacific. Even a touch northward from me.
So I'm not leaving. If the situation calls for it, which I think is unlikely, I will consider driving further south, maybe go to be with Lexi, who is a further 150 miles away. But I'm not going to run to another country unless I have to.
And I really don't think I'll have to.
That being said, if you read this, please do everything you can to donate to the relief efforts. They need it so badly up there. And as wonderful of a nation as this is, they are sometimes too proud to ask for help when they need it. Please remember that in the coming months.
I am an American through and through, I would never consider leaving my home country permanently, because for all its troubles I love it. But pretty much the same thing goes for Japan. This place has been my home away from home. This land and these people have been extraordinarily giving of their time and have shared their lives, and their joy with me. After all that they have given me, its only right that I be with them in their suffering as well.
I love this place, and it goes way beyond the love of that teenage girl who loved to watch anime. Now not to overstate, I am not in danger in Shimane, and it is rather unlikely that I will be in danger here in the future from this. Facts are, I am roughly 460 miles from where this is happening. And based on what I have seen of satellites/radar in the weather patterns since I have been living here, its just not typical for the wind to blow from that direction. It mainly seems to blow from the continent towards the pacific. Even a touch northward from me.
So I'm not leaving. If the situation calls for it, which I think is unlikely, I will consider driving further south, maybe go to be with Lexi, who is a further 150 miles away. But I'm not going to run to another country unless I have to.
And I really don't think I'll have to.
That being said, if you read this, please do everything you can to donate to the relief efforts. They need it so badly up there. And as wonderful of a nation as this is, they are sometimes too proud to ask for help when they need it. Please remember that in the coming months.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Vlogging to rescue again
So in the next day or two I will type up the awful thing that happened with my computer recently. But for now, here is the vlog that I recorded right before it happened.
Monday, January 24, 2011
I have a Youtube Video!!
So here is something I'm gonna try to do to supplement my normal blogs, and maybe it will work better :) Enjoy my first ever Youtube Video
Monday, January 10, 2011
I didn't post in December. It was a busy month and I've got some videos of moms visit. I'll try and post them up. The kids were especially busy, having tests extra. But I tried very hard to stay busy while they were testing. And of course there were also the year end drinking parties. But not too many in my case. And then mom came and we did lots of fun things. It was a good visit, and I guess its made me appreciate some things about living on my own, but also the house seem a bit more lonely for a little while. Its nice though to have some more organization going on here, so thanks mom for that! So the holidays and the New Year have come and gone.
This year I'm going to be trying something I read about online, taking one picture for every day of the year. I'll be starting a little late, but I thought it be an interesting way of documenting my life here. Maybe I'll throw them up here in batches from time to time. Tomorrow I go back to work after my long vacation. Oh its hard to think about. Times like these are when I think I miss being a student the most. Its hard to go back to the daily grind after break, and its a lot longer between breaks unless I take them myself. Urgh working is hard!
This year I'm going to be trying something I read about online, taking one picture for every day of the year. I'll be starting a little late, but I thought it be an interesting way of documenting my life here. Maybe I'll throw them up here in batches from time to time. Tomorrow I go back to work after my long vacation. Oh its hard to think about. Times like these are when I think I miss being a student the most. Its hard to go back to the daily grind after break, and its a lot longer between breaks unless I take them myself. Urgh working is hard!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Time Sure Flies When Your Sick and Theres Work to Do
So I ended up getting pretty sick. All in all I had to take two days off work to get well. But I've managed to pretty much kick it at this point, although I'm still coughing here and there. Now my car is deciding to get sick though, I'm gonna have to take in to the rental place. Its making a high pitched squealing sound, and this is precisely why I rent....because they will fix whatever it is and it wont cost me any extra.
I had a fairly uneventful week after that, we had another culture day. More singing. But my RowdyHill中 kids were really funny in the afternoon and even though KatsuTeacher also wanted me sing we had a pretty good time. Some of my 3rd years did a REALLY funny, and kind of hardcore dance to the Evangelion theme song, and I was cursing the fact that I forgot my camera. I can only hope that I can talk the school into letting me make a copy of the video they took. It was so funny I was in tears laughing.
I spent a lot of time at Kim's this week or so watching all 6 Harry Potter movies so we could watch the premiere of the 7th one yesterday after mid-year seminar. Movies really are best with other people to make snide comments with. And so we also had mid-year seminar, which was so conveniently close to me! Anyway, it was probably the most useful and informative function I've had so far in this process. Probably because now we all sorta know what we're doing and have constructive ideas to share. I do feel kinda inspired to try some more things, and I think I may have a little better understanding of what is needed. So all in all success.
I also went to Izumo Taisha for the first time today, with some other JETs. It really was fun times. The grounds are really pretty, even if the main hall in under construction for the next two years :(
I had a fairly uneventful week after that, we had another culture day. More singing. But my RowdyHill中 kids were really funny in the afternoon and even though KatsuTeacher also wanted me sing we had a pretty good time. Some of my 3rd years did a REALLY funny, and kind of hardcore dance to the Evangelion theme song, and I was cursing the fact that I forgot my camera. I can only hope that I can talk the school into letting me make a copy of the video they took. It was so funny I was in tears laughing.
I spent a lot of time at Kim's this week or so watching all 6 Harry Potter movies so we could watch the premiere of the 7th one yesterday after mid-year seminar. Movies really are best with other people to make snide comments with. And so we also had mid-year seminar, which was so conveniently close to me! Anyway, it was probably the most useful and informative function I've had so far in this process. Probably because now we all sorta know what we're doing and have constructive ideas to share. I do feel kinda inspired to try some more things, and I think I may have a little better understanding of what is needed. So all in all success.
I also went to Izumo Taisha for the first time today, with some other JETs. It really was fun times. The grounds are really pretty, even if the main hall in under construction for the next two years :(
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Hello Sinus Pressure
So it turns out that my sniffles that I thought was my bodies really weird response to my screaming my throat raw is actually more like a real cold. This is probably a direct result of running myself a little ragged this week what with my whirlwind tour to Kobe, the fact that I was a little under the weather before that on Tuesday, and culture day at OMGItsHuge中 today.
But despite it getting me sick, its been a good week so I can't complain. Although I used the first of my sick leave on Tuesday because the people at work thought I looked like death warmed over. It was good because that way I could rest up and be prepared for my whirlwind journey to Tackey & Tsubasa joy! So I basically stayed in bed most of the day trying to sleep it off, which I imagine did not help my sleeping on the night bus.
But I got there bright and early, and it was a little pathetic how when I got off the bus how immediately at ease I felt. Looks like no matter how much time passes, or no matter if I live somewhere else now Kansai will always feel like home. I had to loiter and I failed at finding an internet cafe so I just parked myself on a bench and waited for Lexi to show up on her bus. When then spent most of morning sleeping/loitering in McDonalds, because thats what people do in the McDonalds at that time of day. After that we changed and went out to the concert venue. It was a BLAST! We had three tickets so I went to the first show by myself while Lexi had coffee hour with her laptop. My seat was great, and it was SO close. I could go on, but needless to say it was really amazing seeing my favorite boys so close up.
So afterwards I met up with Lex again and we got some snacks in between shows before we went back in for the afternoon show. It was SO worth it to go to both shows, after 2 and 1/2 years of no unit activity, and longer since I had got the chance to see them, it was really fun to just take it all in. Lexi and I had floor seats near the backstage, basically at the other end of the arena from where I was before so everything I didn't get to see close up the first time, I got to see close up the second time. And we sat next to really enthusiastic fans, and screamed and sang ourselves silly. It was SO much fun.
We came back again on night buses and I have been really really drained all this week. And now I'm getting sick. Culture day was interesting, although sitting through the super long choral competition part was murder on my sinuses. And of course the teachers are like, we will surprise the students by singing, and everyone was like...so will you sing? I told them no because they hadn't had me practice with them and I didn't know the song at all. But then it came time for it and my JTE was like 'Let's GO!' So I faked it with all my might. The afternoon club demonstrations were more interesting...especially brass band and rhythmic gymnastics.
I also got to give my JTE my present from the Tackey & Tsubasa concert, since she likes them too. She seemed happy to receive it, so I'm glad I remembered to get it!
Off to the drug store to try and convey that my sinuses are like BLURGH
But despite it getting me sick, its been a good week so I can't complain. Although I used the first of my sick leave on Tuesday because the people at work thought I looked like death warmed over. It was good because that way I could rest up and be prepared for my whirlwind journey to Tackey & Tsubasa joy! So I basically stayed in bed most of the day trying to sleep it off, which I imagine did not help my sleeping on the night bus.
But I got there bright and early, and it was a little pathetic how when I got off the bus how immediately at ease I felt. Looks like no matter how much time passes, or no matter if I live somewhere else now Kansai will always feel like home. I had to loiter and I failed at finding an internet cafe so I just parked myself on a bench and waited for Lexi to show up on her bus. When then spent most of morning sleeping/loitering in McDonalds, because thats what people do in the McDonalds at that time of day. After that we changed and went out to the concert venue. It was a BLAST! We had three tickets so I went to the first show by myself while Lexi had coffee hour with her laptop. My seat was great, and it was SO close. I could go on, but needless to say it was really amazing seeing my favorite boys so close up.
So afterwards I met up with Lex again and we got some snacks in between shows before we went back in for the afternoon show. It was SO worth it to go to both shows, after 2 and 1/2 years of no unit activity, and longer since I had got the chance to see them, it was really fun to just take it all in. Lexi and I had floor seats near the backstage, basically at the other end of the arena from where I was before so everything I didn't get to see close up the first time, I got to see close up the second time. And we sat next to really enthusiastic fans, and screamed and sang ourselves silly. It was SO much fun.
We came back again on night buses and I have been really really drained all this week. And now I'm getting sick. Culture day was interesting, although sitting through the super long choral competition part was murder on my sinuses. And of course the teachers are like, we will surprise the students by singing, and everyone was like...so will you sing? I told them no because they hadn't had me practice with them and I didn't know the song at all. But then it came time for it and my JTE was like 'Let's GO!' So I faked it with all my might. The afternoon club demonstrations were more interesting...especially brass band and rhythmic gymnastics.
I also got to give my JTE my present from the Tackey & Tsubasa concert, since she likes them too. She seemed happy to receive it, so I'm glad I remembered to get it!
Off to the drug store to try and convey that my sinuses are like BLURGH
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Let Me Go Back in There and Face the Peril! No its too Perilous!
The date on the last post is so not right! Cause it was totally the next day that I found the couch that I was looking for, and now its being delivered tomorrow. I'm very excited, and hopefully one of the guys will come over and help me move my dresser. And that was Monday.
So now my kids mid-terms are over with, and next week is time for my big Halloween lesson. I had fun times with elementary school kids again on Wednesday, and let me say that they are the cure for all the ails you. I also finally went to Tuesday night diner this week after several weeks of being absent, and it was quite fun. And of course curry is always welcome. I think I'm going to start getting freebies there soon, I'm there often enough.
I biked around today, looking for new bags for my vacuum cleaner, the other which was sacrificed to riding myself of a cockroach. I found some, and it was like 300yen for like 10 of them so its a good deal I think. I got some more leggings for approaching winter too, and the big difference between the M-L size ones and L-LL size is that these are actually long enough! Little things but they make me quite happy.
My next project is to start searching in earnest for a kotatsu (heated table so nice) futon and a double size futon for my bed, because its starting to get a bit cold with just the two blankets I've got. But I'm trying to find a nice one.
I'm watching Monty Python as I eat dinner, as may be evidenced by the title of this post. I needed something English on the tv tonight, felt like hearing my own language for once.
So now my kids mid-terms are over with, and next week is time for my big Halloween lesson. I had fun times with elementary school kids again on Wednesday, and let me say that they are the cure for all the ails you. I also finally went to Tuesday night diner this week after several weeks of being absent, and it was quite fun. And of course curry is always welcome. I think I'm going to start getting freebies there soon, I'm there often enough.
I biked around today, looking for new bags for my vacuum cleaner, the other which was sacrificed to riding myself of a cockroach. I found some, and it was like 300yen for like 10 of them so its a good deal I think. I got some more leggings for approaching winter too, and the big difference between the M-L size ones and L-LL size is that these are actually long enough! Little things but they make me quite happy.
My next project is to start searching in earnest for a kotatsu (heated table so nice) futon and a double size futon for my bed, because its starting to get a bit cold with just the two blankets I've got. But I'm trying to find a nice one.
I'm watching Monty Python as I eat dinner, as may be evidenced by the title of this post. I needed something English on the tv tonight, felt like hearing my own language for once.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
My Blogging and Working Battle continues
Ok so I probably really can't do the updating once a week thing. But I'm really trying to do this regularly. Unfortunately its not like my other journal which I write random stuff in and is mostly made of witty one-liners between me and Corey from college. So its not really the same trying to write about my life, for people to read about. I like to do it, I just am tired to distracted or just plain forget.
So what I'm going to try and do is make this a little more anecdotal. That way its easier to write and hopefully once I start doing that, which would be more frequently, and that way its easier for me to remember. Hopefully.
So for about a month now I've been looking for a couch for my apartment, because I need another place to sit like woah. What I really want is one of these Japanese sofa beds which slide forward and recline so guests can sleep on them. Thats because if I have the couch there is probably no longer enough space for an air mattress or something. And I have about 200cm for one, and I was thinking that I really wanted a leather one instead of cloth. So I've been looking in all the recycle shops, but hadn't had much success at finding one I liked. Cause lets face it if I'm going to spend nearly $200 on this freakin thing I wanna like it. I think I finally found on, its kinda plain but its plain white leather so I think thats a nice and clean look for my room. If all goes well I could have it delivered by this weekend.
In other news apparently it was worth mentioning that I've been almost late a couple times in the past month to OMGItsHuge中. Never mind that "almost late" is like 20 minutes earlier than my contract says I have to be somewhere, but I go that early anyway cause they've asked me to be there for the teachers meeting (which I never take part of and can only sometimes follow).
No the reason for this is quite simple, the meeting is supposed to be at 8:10, so I try to arrive 3 or so minutes early so I can put my stuff down, grab a glass of water and then stand in my place for the start of the meeting. Lately the meeting has been fluctuating between being 3 or so minutes early or 3 or so minutes late. Mostly early. So what happens is I walk in right as its starting, but because the Vice-Principal is already starting to speak I do not want to cut through the room and disrupt it so I stand by the door. I am still there for the whole meeting, give or take a sentence or two. If I could predict when this would happen I could plan accordingly, Its only been in the last three or four weeks, and with all the strange schedule's I've had lately its only been this week that I decided, ok they wanna play that game then I'll set my alarm clock back ten minutes so its easier for me to be there a little earlier even. But I was apparently too slow on the draw and now its been mentioned....*sigh* I'm really kinda irritated about this. Its not like I'm being actually late, I'm just being.....precisely on time instead of being there a few minutes early.
I wonder if they realize that asking me to be there half an hour early would technically entitle me to leave that much earlier in the afternoon. Good thing for them I've got more standards than that.
But this weekend I watched Japanese Girl Scouts making a 25m long sushi roll, and that was pretty darn cool.
So what I'm going to try and do is make this a little more anecdotal. That way its easier to write and hopefully once I start doing that, which would be more frequently, and that way its easier for me to remember. Hopefully.
So for about a month now I've been looking for a couch for my apartment, because I need another place to sit like woah. What I really want is one of these Japanese sofa beds which slide forward and recline so guests can sleep on them. Thats because if I have the couch there is probably no longer enough space for an air mattress or something. And I have about 200cm for one, and I was thinking that I really wanted a leather one instead of cloth. So I've been looking in all the recycle shops, but hadn't had much success at finding one I liked. Cause lets face it if I'm going to spend nearly $200 on this freakin thing I wanna like it. I think I finally found on, its kinda plain but its plain white leather so I think thats a nice and clean look for my room. If all goes well I could have it delivered by this weekend.
In other news apparently it was worth mentioning that I've been almost late a couple times in the past month to OMGItsHuge中. Never mind that "almost late" is like 20 minutes earlier than my contract says I have to be somewhere, but I go that early anyway cause they've asked me to be there for the teachers meeting (which I never take part of and can only sometimes follow).
No the reason for this is quite simple, the meeting is supposed to be at 8:10, so I try to arrive 3 or so minutes early so I can put my stuff down, grab a glass of water and then stand in my place for the start of the meeting. Lately the meeting has been fluctuating between being 3 or so minutes early or 3 or so minutes late. Mostly early. So what happens is I walk in right as its starting, but because the Vice-Principal is already starting to speak I do not want to cut through the room and disrupt it so I stand by the door. I am still there for the whole meeting, give or take a sentence or two. If I could predict when this would happen I could plan accordingly, Its only been in the last three or four weeks, and with all the strange schedule's I've had lately its only been this week that I decided, ok they wanna play that game then I'll set my alarm clock back ten minutes so its easier for me to be there a little earlier even. But I was apparently too slow on the draw and now its been mentioned....*sigh* I'm really kinda irritated about this. Its not like I'm being actually late, I'm just being.....precisely on time instead of being there a few minutes early.
I wonder if they realize that asking me to be there half an hour early would technically entitle me to leave that much earlier in the afternoon. Good thing for them I've got more standards than that.
But this weekend I watched Japanese Girl Scouts making a 25m long sushi roll, and that was pretty darn cool.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sports Day(s) & Hiroshima
So I know I said I'd update every week, but realizing that my sports days would be split over two and thinking they should all be put together in one post...I decided to wait.
So the start of my second week of school started me really getting more into the swing of teaching, although it was still being punctuated by sports day prep. We spent three periods on Monday doing prep at OMGItsHuge中, and I used that time to wander around my school, sometimes with and sometimes without OnajiiName先生(sensei). Actually I spent my whole second week there. Although Tuesday was normal classes, Wednesday was sports day rehearsal. But as we all feared, it got interrupted by the oncoming typhoon. Luckily it was a quick typhoon and sports day went unchanged, but for the day the students had to get back inside. Because OMGItsHuge中 has a unusual layout for a Japanese middle school, the students were able to practice their dancing and cheering inside. Once again I was allowed to loiter about and watch various groups rehearse etc. During a break in the rain I helped the teachers deassemble all the tents, because I felt I had nothing better to do. But I think they really appreciated it, and I feel like after that I became closer to the staff.
Finally Thursday came and the skies were clear so we were able to have a glorious sports day, the weather had even cooled off making it bearable to be outside. Japanese sports day isn't what it sounds like to most westerners. The only usual sport they do is relay races. Everything is different, and quite possibly lawsuit inducing if it were happening in the US. I could go on but there is one game that involves boys holding up giant bamboo poles with hats on top and them running and leaping at them, trying to be the first team to pull their opponents pole down.
All in all it was pretty fun and I had a good time just watching and taking pictures/videos and chatting with the other teachers. I think next year it'd be good to like...declare myself for on team though. Because the students seemed very concerned with that, and it would make cheering easier. My Enkai afterward was also super fun and I was glad that my Japanese did not evaporate with the consumption of alcohol. Cause once they figured out I'd drink the sake even if I didn't like beer, it got a little dangerous!
All in all I spent a lot of time over at OMGItsBig中 over the second two weeks, and I got to know my way around and the routine a lot better. That weekend being thrown right into the Sports day at TeenyTiny中 wasn't so easy because I'd only been there once. But it was still interested, the a principal talked to me a lot and even talked me into joining the folk dancing at the end. So it was a good day in all, and the rain clouds apparently parted right over us and allowed us to have the day uninterrupted.
RowdyHill中 had theirs later that week, and I have to say the art at that school was definitely the best. Again a bit awkward cause it was only my second time at the school at all, and they only had two teams. But they were pretty good sized teams. And they had a lot of cooperative teamwork activities instead of so many physical ones. Partway through the day kids from a local kindergarten came and they had dance time with the 2nd and 3rd years. And it was about the cutest thing I'd EVER seen! Later during the day I pulled a penny that had somehow got stuck in my sneaker out and one of the boys ended up asking for it. I gave it to him and he seemed really impressed by it! I'll have to remember that small change makes a good bribe.
After my big challenge of so many sports days it was time for the well earned long weekend! I spent Saturday doing NONE of the things I had intended to do, and on Sunday I got up bright and early to get to the station and pick up Nicole and then Kim at her place to drive down to Hiroshima. It was a good long drive and I'm still getting the hang of this navigating in Japan thing, but we eventually found the station and Lexi. After that another adventure in the form of finding the hostel and getting train passes and we were off to the peace park for some lunch. We had the delicious pasta that Anna and I had when we were there, and then we caught a train to Miyajima. This time when we got there the shrine was still open! So we had a good time seeing that and walking around in the shops touristing a bit. I got a safe driving charm!
When we got back we met back up with Kim and went out for dinner and purikura! Back at the hostel we acted like complete nerds and watched Yugioh Abridged all night! And Nicole and I could not stop quoting it. The morning saw us getting up relatively early for a bookoff trip! After that obligatory stop we just had fun shopping the rest of the day and had Hiroshimayaki for lunch, which was tasty but I still like Kansai style best! We made Nicole try on leather shorts, which actually looked pretty good and she ended up buying them, the skinny thing she is. We left before it got too late so I would have energy to drive back and finally we got home, but not before I stopped off and got some delicious curry.
Now I'm home and enjoying another day off after a relatively uneventful two days at school. I'll have to gear up for another trip to Fukuoka soon though, since Lexi and I have concerts tickets for the first weekend of the month!
So the start of my second week of school started me really getting more into the swing of teaching, although it was still being punctuated by sports day prep. We spent three periods on Monday doing prep at OMGItsHuge中, and I used that time to wander around my school, sometimes with and sometimes without OnajiiName先生(sensei). Actually I spent my whole second week there. Although Tuesday was normal classes, Wednesday was sports day rehearsal. But as we all feared, it got interrupted by the oncoming typhoon. Luckily it was a quick typhoon and sports day went unchanged, but for the day the students had to get back inside. Because OMGItsHuge中 has a unusual layout for a Japanese middle school, the students were able to practice their dancing and cheering inside. Once again I was allowed to loiter about and watch various groups rehearse etc. During a break in the rain I helped the teachers deassemble all the tents, because I felt I had nothing better to do. But I think they really appreciated it, and I feel like after that I became closer to the staff.
Finally Thursday came and the skies were clear so we were able to have a glorious sports day, the weather had even cooled off making it bearable to be outside. Japanese sports day isn't what it sounds like to most westerners. The only usual sport they do is relay races. Everything is different, and quite possibly lawsuit inducing if it were happening in the US. I could go on but there is one game that involves boys holding up giant bamboo poles with hats on top and them running and leaping at them, trying to be the first team to pull their opponents pole down.
All in all it was pretty fun and I had a good time just watching and taking pictures/videos and chatting with the other teachers. I think next year it'd be good to like...declare myself for on team though. Because the students seemed very concerned with that, and it would make cheering easier. My Enkai afterward was also super fun and I was glad that my Japanese did not evaporate with the consumption of alcohol. Cause once they figured out I'd drink the sake even if I didn't like beer, it got a little dangerous!
All in all I spent a lot of time over at OMGItsBig中 over the second two weeks, and I got to know my way around and the routine a lot better. That weekend being thrown right into the Sports day at TeenyTiny中 wasn't so easy because I'd only been there once. But it was still interested, the a principal talked to me a lot and even talked me into joining the folk dancing at the end. So it was a good day in all, and the rain clouds apparently parted right over us and allowed us to have the day uninterrupted.
RowdyHill中 had theirs later that week, and I have to say the art at that school was definitely the best. Again a bit awkward cause it was only my second time at the school at all, and they only had two teams. But they were pretty good sized teams. And they had a lot of cooperative teamwork activities instead of so many physical ones. Partway through the day kids from a local kindergarten came and they had dance time with the 2nd and 3rd years. And it was about the cutest thing I'd EVER seen! Later during the day I pulled a penny that had somehow got stuck in my sneaker out and one of the boys ended up asking for it. I gave it to him and he seemed really impressed by it! I'll have to remember that small change makes a good bribe.
After my big challenge of so many sports days it was time for the well earned long weekend! I spent Saturday doing NONE of the things I had intended to do, and on Sunday I got up bright and early to get to the station and pick up Nicole and then Kim at her place to drive down to Hiroshima. It was a good long drive and I'm still getting the hang of this navigating in Japan thing, but we eventually found the station and Lexi. After that another adventure in the form of finding the hostel and getting train passes and we were off to the peace park for some lunch. We had the delicious pasta that Anna and I had when we were there, and then we caught a train to Miyajima. This time when we got there the shrine was still open! So we had a good time seeing that and walking around in the shops touristing a bit. I got a safe driving charm!
When we got back we met back up with Kim and went out for dinner and purikura! Back at the hostel we acted like complete nerds and watched Yugioh Abridged all night! And Nicole and I could not stop quoting it. The morning saw us getting up relatively early for a bookoff trip! After that obligatory stop we just had fun shopping the rest of the day and had Hiroshimayaki for lunch, which was tasty but I still like Kansai style best! We made Nicole try on leather shorts, which actually looked pretty good and she ended up buying them, the skinny thing she is. We left before it got too late so I would have energy to drive back and finally we got home, but not before I stopped off and got some delicious curry.
Now I'm home and enjoying another day off after a relatively uneventful two days at school. I'll have to gear up for another trip to Fukuoka soon though, since Lexi and I have concerts tickets for the first weekend of the month!
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