i shoveled for the first time of the season on sunday ... twice!!! it took me nearly 2 hours to clear all of the snow, i couldn't believe how much it dumped in one night. awwww, well i guess this means another 3-4 months of winter = shoveling, sucky roads, cold house = boo!!
but in other good news, i'll be going home in 2 weeks and when i get back will be going to tokyo with nori for a little get away. so i'm getting really excited for the upcoming winter holiday!! i cant wait to see everyone, it's going to be soooo weird being back in the states though!
alright, nap time!
"I want to buy a girlfriend"
huh?
That was one of my students responses on the worksheets I made for them. They had to interview their friends, write down their answers, and then draw a picture of the answer and write a title for it. Apparantly one of my boys is very lonely and wants a cute girl to be his girlfriend :-P
Thanksgiving turned out really good. Actually went to two, was able to sit down and have a proper meal at only one of them though. The pumpkin bread I made turned out to be a hit, I'll have to make that for you guys when I go home. We had a going away party for one of my friends, Midori (she has made appearances in picutres on this site, most recently being in the autumn leaves photo). She is going to Sendai for work because where we live, there just aren't enough jobs for people to find here. So, very sad but will now have a friend in Sendai to visit and eat cow tongue with ... mmm yum!
You want to know something that makes my day? It's when I leave school and the kids say good bye to me. The best ones are when you get one of the really shy kids, or one of the boys that seems totally uninterested in the world around them, and they see you, you say good bye and they give you a great big cheesy smile and return the greeting. It just makes you feel all warm inside, like ... wow, these kids are so great! I really do enjoy working with them. And seeing that I'll be here for another 2 years (probably) that's a good thing.
Hmmm, eventually I really need to start thinking about what I'm going to do after JET ... where am I going to live? where am I going back to school? where am I going to work (pretty sure that's still going to be a school though, or something with education)? oye, it seems as time passes, I only get more questions!
so last week i made curry and i made mistake when i reading the amount of water to put in (i only wanted to make enough curry for a fews meals at most), and it resulted in me having curry and rice for lunch and dinner for 5 days in a row! i think i'm curried our for a while, but at least curry only gets better as the days go on :)
and of course i didnt learn from my mistake this week. i wanted to make a tomato based pasta and ended up eating that for a few days straight too! this whole cooking for one person is hard, but i guess it saves on money and time making food in bulk, it just limits the meal variety :-P
last week i changed my tires, i think a little early though. no snow on the ground yet, although a few fluries here and there.
my tv broke sunday night :( i was right in the middle of watching "Day After Tomorrow" and it just turned off by itself and wont turn back on! i think my BOE is going to replace it though (thank goodness as i really need to save money) and it makes sense for them to replace as this is not actually my house, but the ALTs house so its for future ALTs as well. i just wonder when they are going to replace it. i dont want to miss the korean drama i've been watching lately :-P
tonight we are having a thanksgiving dinner, i made pumpkin bread and broccoli crab salad ... hopefully it will go down well!
AND i'll be back in America in 4 weeks! holy crap, that's crazy!! how the time flies!!
well, we had our first snow today! it was more like a mix of hail and wannabe snow though, but still, snow forcasted for the upcoming week as well, boo!!! looks like i'm going to have to change my tires tomorrow and start getting out the shovels. dammit, we were supposed to skip winter this year!
guess what everyone? it's cold again! :( so i guess that means that all blogs from here on out will mention cold/snow/crappy house/shoveling in one way or another :-P but for your sake, i'll try and keep it to a limited, and snow wont start for at least another month (keeping my fingers crossed on that one!).
this last month was incredibly busy! of course one of the highlights being jess and ellie coming out to japan. it was great seeing them, even though it was kind of a blur! went down to tokyo to meet up with them and have fun down there, saw kabuki, went sightseeing, enjoyed an onsen (i just love making people take their clothes off, right ellie? hee hee) and then rushing back on a train because i was late for the train i was supposed to be on. then they came up to my house and i showed them how beautifully isolated aomori is ... and we saw foliage (foil-age ... right jess?), made takoyaki, then picked up ann and had salmon and played cards. of course, lots more happened on the trip ... but all in all, it was really nice seeing them. i know we've all changed sinced the last time we saw each other, but there's no doubt (in my mind) that the friendship is still there and always will be ... awwww, i love you guys! hehe, ok, enough mush! 
the first night the girls got in, we met up with naoko, suhjin, and yumi ... then snuck into out hotel room
here's us at the imperial palace gardens
i think there was alcohol in the takoyaki that night :-P
while waiting for ann, we had really good rice pudding after yummy curry at akbar's.
i've bought tickets to go home for the winter holiday for first time since i've come to japan! i'm really excited to see everyone, but i bet it's going to be weird to be back in the states again! it's been such a long time ... but aside from getting to see people, i'm looking forward to ... yes ... Mexican food!!! mmmmm, and good Chinese food too! i will be coming back to japan a little early though and going on a get-away with u know who, not exactly sure where yet, but looking forward to that too :-P
other than that, enjoying the last bits of the fall colors, but most of it is gone now after we had that huge storm last night and all the leaves were blown off the tree (for anyone who might have heard about the tornado in northern japan, it wasn't anywhere near me, it was in hokkaido). there were a couple of moments where it was a bit scary here because of the wind, rain, and lightning, but the house still in one piece so that's good.
here's midori and i looking at pretty leaves
oh yeah, i've uploaded new pictures to my picture site so go check them out!
well, i finally evicted the roommate. i saw it in my bathroom (for the first time), i think it was dieing though because it didn't move when i got near it, but i didn't have the heart to kill outright like my friends said, so instead i put it in tuperwear and took it out to the rice fields. say farewell everyone ... 
i never get squeely (well rarely) but this made me squeel!
here's me officially 23, out with my girlfriends for a birthday dinner 
last weekend i spent most my time out in fukuaura. saturday went hiking in the shirakami with friends and man, i'm freaking sore now! and i have a battlewound on my shin (decided it would be a good idea to overstep and let my shin fall on a rigid rock, who else wouldn't want to break their skin on the way down? oye!). but, none the less, it was a beautiful hike! was even able to see some color changes.
t
his was maybe only half-way up and i was already super tired! i figured because i say active during the week with volleyball, taiko, and occasionally tennis that i was in shape ... hah! guess not!
his was maybe only half-way up and i was already super tired! i figured because i say active during the week with volleyball, taiko, and occasionally tennis that i was in shape ... hah! guess not!so yeah, it was a good weekend spent with friends. and tonight i received my gohonzon! soo yay! really happy about that!
check out my pictures page for more pictures :)
I'm 23 years old! That's so weird to say! But thank you to everyone who sent birthday messages, cards, and phone calls :) It was a nice chill day. I was able to get off of work early, but it was raining all day so didn't feel like going off on any adventures. Went to dinner with some friends in the evening and then called it a night after some drinks (non-alcoholic :P).
It's also official ... I have a new roommate. I've never actually seen it yet. It's small, furry, likes cucumbers, and running around at night while I'm trying to sleep. Yes, I have ... a mouse ... booo! I've been advised not to set mouse traps that use food because it will only bring other mice, so instead I am to bang on the ceiling with a broom or whatever because it will scare it and hopefully run it out. So for the last few nights, when I start to hear it run around in the attack (apparantly it only comes down when I'm not around) I start hitting the ceiling with my taiko drum sticks. Sounds like fun huh?
It's also officially cold. They have finally started putting warm drinks in the vending machines, a sure sign that it's cold out. Although I'm still holding out on using the heater (even though it gets down to 59 in the morning). I can't admit that it's already that time of year. Can someone say denial? The rice fields are all yellow and have already started to be cut down for harvesting.
And finally, it's official that I am receiving my gohonzon this Sunday! (Many of you may not know what that means, so next time you see me, just ask :P).
So lots of things official going on and lots of things no so official going on, but all in all, it's good!
I have a few new pictures to post as well, but as I'm at work posting this, I'll post them later.
seriously people, i really made an effort to stay updated with the blogging and i was doing ok for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden 3 weeks have passed since my last blog, and i have no idea how that happened!
but, just to let you all know, i'm doing fantastic! well aside from the typhoon going on right now (although, it's really not that bad). the seasons are definately changing (or more like changed). it's getting cold at night and you can already see a few leaves changing colors. i've talked to so many people in aomori who hate fall because it's a sign that winter is coming and i never understood it because i love fall, i love the changing colors and temperature and everything. although, to be honest, seeing the color changes is putting this dread in me, like oh shit! winter is coming! my house is going to be freezing again, i'm going to have to wake up at 5 am again to shovel, and well most of you have already heard my winter horror stories. but i keep trying to tell myself that it's a good 2 1/2 - 3 months before snow starts falling (ahhhhhh!!!).
i've been trying to cook a lot lately and it's all been japanese food and hasn't been too bad. just simple stuff, fish, miso soup, veggies, rice, etc. essentially i'm trying to eat healthier. somehow i lost nearly 5 kilos (over 10 pounds) during the summer without even trying and now that i'm conscious of that, i want to try and lose more weight just to be healthy.
oooh, i bought new sheets (finally!) and they are soooo nice. i figured i'm going to be here 2 more years and should have nice sheets (mind u my winter set is lovely). actually i've been a bit bad with shopping this month (as in too much shopping) but i figure my birthday is coming up soon and i can spoil myself every once in a while :-P
i'm thinking about going home for winter vacation this year (although worried about leaving the house for 2 weeks and coming back to a house burried in snow). i can't wait for ellie and jess to come out (a little over 3 weeks!). and yeah, life is just good ... staying busy with japanese class, volleyball, taiko, tennis, english eikaiwa lessons, meetings, friends, kareshii, etc. getting to know the new jets, and they are cool, but still miss the jets from last year :-P anyways, i'll try and update more regularly, i promise!
but a great big happy birthday to jess and cassie!!! i would sing to you, but i know how much jessica hates that ;-) when you come to japan, jess i'll make you a cake or something ... hee, and cassie, since you've let us know plenty in advance about the wedding, then i'll definately bring something super super cool from japan! alright, love you guys, hope u had a good bday!
well apparantly summer is over now and it only lasted 3 weeks. crazy huh? considering i come from a place where summers last nearly 5 months (if not longer). we had our first dry day yesterday (as in very low humidity) and the wind has a much cooler feel to it, but i can't say that i'm complaining. now if it could only stay this temperature for the rest of the year, it would be great!
this week was pretty chill so not a whole lot to report on. my boss let me go home early today. my friends are telling me i need to buy special pants. we are having a welcome party for the new jets in the area tonight. and tomorrow, i'll be making dinner for someone ... hmm, what to cook?
pretty soon, it should start cooling down, but until then it's still hot and humid. it's not actually hot in terms of temperature, it's just the humidity that's torture.
what's happened since i last blogged? i saw mission impossible 3, went down to sendai, met loads of new aomori jets, helped with orientation, met up with a friend who's an english teacher i used to work with in kanagi, visited some friends in hirosaki and was introduced to a really cool cafe with delicious chocolate cake, and also a really cozy blues cafe where there is live music every saturday.
and today i went to aomori city for a meeting and got all natsukashii (nostalgic) talking about SUA and stuff ~ it's crazy that the 6th class has already had it's opening ceremony and like ann said, officially half of the school has never met us. every once in a while i feel disconnected with sua and feel like it was just some dream, but most of the time i steel feel as if not much time has passed and that it still feels like i'll see everyone soon. well at least i know i will see jessica and ellie soon!!!!! i cant wait for u guys to come in october!!!!!!!!
so sendai was a lot of fun, but was very short. we went down on tuesday morning (5 hour drive), went to a zoo, got rained on, checked into a hotel, then went out to walk around town and then had what sendai is famous for, cow tongue, for dinner. and let me tell ya, it's delish!!!! went back to the hotel, then woke up early to go check out an amusement park. it kind of reminded me of a fair ground with lots of spinny rides and a couple of bigger roller coasters. after that we went to a planitarium, which i haven't been to an ages!!! but i loved it ... i love looking at stars, they are sooo purdy!
orientation was kind of surreal. most of the newbies i met were really cool, but it just made me realize what a fleeting program jet is. so many of the people i viewed as "the jets" are now gone, and i've become the 2nd year that people will ask questions to and see as the veteran. it's just kind of weird, but i realize now that i need to cherish my time here even more because it won't last forever, as it is with all things.
i want to learn to live in the moment, and be more spontanious. i tend to think about things way too much and in that i prevent myself from every experiencing anything, well at least one part of my life in particular. it's almost never like the movies, and that has to be ok.
An update! It's been nearly a month since my last update and man, it was a fun month!! Crazy busy, but fun :) and also a little sad at the same time.
I spent the month saying good bye to friends leaving Aomori, practicing taiko for the festival, playing volleyball, working, going to fuji rock (the largest rock festival in Japan), participating in the best local festival ever, entertaining friends from tokyo, watching fireworks with (hmmm), meeting new JETs and possibly new friends, and just really feeling like a part of the community!
if i gave you all of the details then this blog would be extremely long, but I think you get the idea that I've been living it up here in Japan. It's been disgustingly hot lately (not necessarily temperature wise, but humidity is the killer) and things are just finally start to settle back down to normal, whatever that means.
Two weeks ago, three friends and I took a road trip to go enjoy 3 days of music (including artists like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, JET, Jason Mraz, The Zutons, Mogwai, Snow Patrol, Flogging Molly, and the list goes on). It took us 14 hours to get there and 12 hours to get back, but the drive was beautiful (Niigata has amazing mountain views) and it was an awesome experience. Made new friends from Tokyo, experienced concerts in pooring rain and mud, slept in a tent so close to other tents you could touch them just by reaching your hand out the front. Here's some pictures
prepared for the rain with $1 plastic ponchos!
neigbors and new friends from tokyo
festival took place at a ski resort. and yup, those are all tents!
the other big thing that has happened was the tachi nebuta festival. aomori is famous for it's nebuta festivals and goshogawara has its own called tachi nebuta. i was really luckly and was able to participate by playing taiko. i got to wear the traditional festival wear, and participated every day (5 days) yelling yate mare and sore, beating the taiko drum, and pushing the float. i've never sweated so much in my life, but man it was awesome! i'm looking forward to doing it again next year, except next year i want to play the flute and other stuff too. here's some pictures from the festival ....
alright, blogger is being funny and not letting me post pictures, but go to my pictures page and you can see lots of new pictures, one including me in a yukata (summer kimono) for the first time :)
alright, enough for now ... i'll try and post soon!
you know summer has arrived when ...
- you wake up sweating
- you need to carry a fan with you every where you go (or a sweat rag)
- festivals start popping up all over the place
- everyone around you is saying "atsui ne! (it's hot huh!)"
- you're house starts smelling musty (because of the humidity)
- fireworks are in abundance
- you need to buy humidity absorbers
- you start drinking lots of fluids
- anything you do results in sweating because of all the fluids you just drank
- schools finally clean the pool
and guess what? summer has arrived and it has been freaking hot! temperature wise, it's really not that bad, it's just the humidity that is harsh.
so same as last blog, just been really busy with volleyball, taiko, friends, english lessons, meetings, etc. on tuesday, one of my schools had a sports festival and when i was watching the volleyball games, it reminded me of daria (from MTV). you would see the ball going at a kid, they would have no reaction, and then when the ball dropped on the groud they'd put their hand out like they tried to get it and all i could do was laugh and think of the opening them song of daria. i played with the teachers team, we won one and lost the other ... it was so much fun. the principal was rolling all over the place in his purple track suit!
fuji rock is coming up pretty soon and totally excited about that!! stay tuned, ill be giving updates about that in a couple of weeks!
alright, i know theres was other stuff i wanted to blog about, but my bed is calling me so ill do it later.
has it really been this long since the last time i've blogged?! sorry everyone ... well at least to those who check into my blog regularly waiting for updates!
anyways, lots and lots has happened and i think the onset of summer has turned me into a very busy girl!
last week i became famous, i'm known all around the ken (Aomori prefecture) as Accha (or granny in Tsugaru-ben) and people come up to me left and right asking for autographs and impersonations of my Accha. well not really ... but this is what happened. 2 weeks ago, the local television crew came to my school and filmed me talking to students during lunch recess, in class, in my car driving after school, in the store shopping talking to students, then at my groups rehearsal. they must have got hours of footage, well at least it seemed like it! then the following saturday was the actual event that brought about this tv crew, the tsugaru-ben taikai. that was loads of fun! there were 4 groups. one did a rendition of a very famous japanese folk tale in tsugaru-ben, another guy did a speech about his father in tsugaru-ben, and another group did a short hilarious skit about the tv guy coming to the house asking for money. my group was last, and probably the shortest ... but it went really well. i was a granny in a restaurant and two foreigners came into my shop and because i only speak tsugaru-ben and they only speak a limited amount of regular japanese, misunderstandings happen and result in me expecting a massage from a customer who only wanted to drink tea. anyways, everyone was laughing and said they really liked it and my group received the "idebashicha" award meaning great job! in tsugaru-ben and it was said our tsugaru-ben was better than actual grannies who grew up here. HAHA! yeah right! but thanks! well the following monday was my big television debut and it turned into 5 minutes focused pretty much on me, a bit embarassing because there was 11 other people who also participated in the taikai, but i guess it didnt turn out too bad ... at least that's what everyone else said. a picture of my group was also in a local newspaper! here's a picture of me in the taikai 
, i don't have one of my group on my comp yet, but as soon as i do, i'll post one. i got the costume from one of my gakkai friends in kanagi, real authentic granny clothes too!
well after the taikai, i participated in one of the local festivals with quite a few other jets. it was the bug and fire festival that i think is supposed to kick off the start of summer. we all had to get dressed up in festivals clothes and carry around these floats, then watched them burn at the end of the parade, followed by a decent display of fireworks. it was a lot of fun! here's a pic from the festival 
this last weekend was spent at a ryokan with a bunch of other jets from aomori and surrouding prefrectures for an everest of apples fundraising event. a bunch of teams competed for prizes by showing off their random knowledge of trivia and i contributed by knowing that J is the only letter not featured on the table of elements (and i was able to prove it too!). it was a lot of fun, got quite roudy as is expected from all jet functions, but we were able to have good food and good fun, just wish it hadn't rained so much! here's a pic from the event as well ... 
hitomi, nobuko, meredith and i at dinner.
other than that my days have been pretty busy. mondays at japanese class, tuesdays at volleyball (woo hoo, finally started again), wednesday at taiko practice, thursday usually resting although i should go play tennis, and friday and the weekends usually hanging out with friends (as much as i can before a lot of them leave at the end of this month) or at meetings or cleaning like i did today. its now july, but it's still a little chilly (as you can see with the sweater in above picture) ranging from low 70s during the day and low 60s at night. but im not complaining, soon enough it will become miserably hot and humid but it wont last long as im realizing summers in aomori are very very short! unlike summers in cali ... miss all of u guys! hope all is going well wherever u r :)
oh yeah ... i've finally uploaded some new pics on pics site so please enjoy!
so this week has been busy busy busy!! saturday night, i went out and had a really good time (hmm, possible further developments from that in the making?). sunday i just relaxed at home and went to a friends house for dinner. monday i took my second drivers test and guess what?! i passed!!! but the dude who was giving the test was a bit of a jerk, i think the only reason i passed is because i speak japanese, whereas my other friend who doesn't speak as well didn't pass :( then in the evening i went to japanese class and together with my tutor, we made the skit for the tsugaru ben taikai (a competition that encourages the foreigners to use the local dialect in skits and stuff like that).
tuesday one of my japanese friends came over and we made dinner and hung out. wednesday i went to taiko again (with the same friend). it was a lot more fun this time because i was starting to get the hang of it. its a really good work out too! and it looks as if i will be entering the local festival with the taiko group as well, so thats exciting!
today was crazy busy at school with kids hanging off of me left and right. then i had to do a bunch of running around and almost forgot about a private english lesson i had tonight. doh!
and one of the biggest developments of the week ... i might be on local tv because of the taikai!! they want to highlight some of the groups in the competition and decided they liked the sound of mine (i have no idea why, our skit is super short and simple) and so they are going to come follow me around at school on monday, and when i go to the store and my house and all that! then they will come record my groups rehersal monday night! so theres a good chance some of that footage might end up in the airing of the taikai. crazy huh?? whod have thunk it!! i thought it was supposed to be another group!!
anyways, i think thats about it for now ... ill try and post soon. but it looks as if im going to become crazy busy pretty soon! ahhhhh!! it is nice having a life though! :-P heee
love you all and miss you!
man ... i wonder if my life here will ever be not busy cuz it's definately been busy the last couple of weeks!
i, like so many before me, failed my first driving test in japan last monday. i have an international drivers license but that expires in july so i need to get this taken care of now. most of the JETs fail their first time and following in suit, i did too. everything was fine except i didnt look over my shoulder enough when turning (or at least didn't make it obvious enough). oye, next time!! have my next test on monday ... lets hope its more successful!
went to onsen with some friends, bought a tennis racket and hung out with a friend from work, had another eikaiwa lesson, and went to TOKYO!!! last saturday, quite a few of us headed down to tokyo for the recontracting conference and just got back a couple of days ago. i think i appreciated the city a lot more than i have on previous trips. did quite a bit of shopping, got to see some SUA friends (including ann, tim, naoko, naomi, rumiko, suh jin, billy, and hiroshi) which was awesome!), stayed at a five star hotel, saw loads of foreigners (some of which i could have been fine not seeing!), and ate MEXICAN food!!!
the amount of foreigners in tokyo is staggering (although having a conference where at least 800 other JETs are attending doesnt help). every time i went into a store, or talked with someone at the hotel, the employees spoke english really well and automatically speak english which was shocking as no one can speak english here. it was getting me really confused as to what language to speak, especially when we went out to eat foreign food (indian, mexican, etc.). i was so happy to have mexican food, although it was way over priced but the atmosphere was cool with a live mariachi band and all.
being in the city also helps u appreciate the nature in the countryside. in the city (especially one like tokyo) u see nothing but buildings and concret and nothing beyond it! however, in the countryside where i live u can see for miles and miles and see nothing but green. both places have their good points, but im really happy i live in the place that i do.
anyways, have had work the last couple of days and then going out this weekend. i went to one of my favorite elementary schools today. the kids there are so loving and give me hugs all of the time! they are soooooo sweet!
i think there was a bunch of other stuff i wanted to blog as well, but i can't remember it now. hopefully later ... until then, enjoy some pictures from tokyo!
here's me in shubuya ... crazy place. went to outback steakhouse here and felt very american!
with some of the locals in shinjuku. i think the 80s are back in japan!
view from the hotel. endless city. those 2 buildings actually had really cool designs, the picture doesnt really do it justice
so it's been a busy week for Allison! work every day that was followed by japanese class on monday, eikaiwa (english conversation) lesson on tuesday, taiko drums on wednesday, tsugaru-ben study/translation dinner night on thursday, kaho shimada concert on friday, movie and bbq on saturday, and meeting on sunday! whew!
i also knocked down the bee nest that this lone bee was so busily buiding for the last 2 weeks. had to get it down before it started having babies though, because i hate bees!! and the bees here look like wasps so they are even more intimidating! my house is being taken over by spiders again, but i don't really mind as long as they stay out of my bedroom. i made dinner a few times this week and they were very japanesey ~ rice, fish, and soup. the soup i made is called tonjiru and its a miso-based soup with loads of stuff in it and it surprisingly turned out pretty good! yay :)
one of the highlights of the week was being able to talk to my old SUA buddies on monday (sunday cali time). did a round-robin style conversation in which the phone was passed around to everyone and i got to talk to them for 2 minutes each; i was on my lunch break and couldnt talk long :( but it was sooooooo nice hearing everyone's voice and made me wish i was there! someday!!
another highlight was the taiko drums. if i practice enough and can get the hang of them then i might be in the oh-so-famous tachi nebuta parade in august in goshogawara. taiko was a lot of fun but, man it's hard!!! must practice!!
this next month is going to be really busy too. will be going to tokyo next weekend for the recontracting conference (all renewing jets have to attend), want to go to sapporo so i can visit people, will be in the tsugaru-ben taikai (competition that foreigners enter and have to speak the local dialect), and will probably be in a parade at the end of the month. oh-so-busy but having lots of fun. although, it does make time fly!! here's some pictures from the weekend ... enoy!
bbq fun!
me, nobuko, and hitomi (the strategists) and ben sneaking in the back
Today, I attended my first sports day event in Japan. All schools in Japan do sports day and they make a pretty big deal of it, preparing for it for a week before it happens. Then during the weekend, all the kids and teachers go to school and do all sorts of physical (as you could guess) activities like relays, cross country, dancing, and human pyramids. The kids divide up into 2 teams (red team and white team, I'm assuming this has to do with the colors of the Japanese flag) and wear hachimaki (head bands) to give them spirit! It was really cool to see and it's always nice to see my kids outside of the English classroom environment. Here's a couple of pictures of my kids ... 
Like their makeup? It's flour ... they had to find and eat a marshmallow burried in flour as part of relay. Cute, aren't they?
These kids made this human pyramid fast!
Some of my friends held a beer tasting party last night. Everyone had to bring a 6 pack of beer from a different place and we went through the whole process of tasting, rating, eating, and finally decided on a winner ... actually it was a tie between a micro-brew from Tsugaru (the area I live in) and good ole' Sam Adams. Rated last was Budweiser ... thought that was kind of funny. It was fun, and when you have to taste 9 different beers, you definately get a buzz!
Well, until next time~ bye bye, see you!
i was reminded to update the blog as ive been neglectful recently (sorry!). so what's new in this part of the world?
the cherry blossoms are pretty much all gone and all the trees are green now. the bees are building nests outside of my house again which means i need to knock em down before they get to big. the rice fields are filled with water and little seedlings making it look almost mossy everywhere you look. i can now sit in my house at night with short sleeves on and not feel cold!
here's a picture of the rice fields ... with Mt. Iwaki in the backround.
the last couple of weeks have been kind of mild i guess. work has been busy. ive been trying to go for walks/jogs every day, but this last week i havent been able to go as much as id like. been going to japanese class and just hanging around doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. went to a friends party last friday then went out on saturday (hopefully there will be more to this later, but as of yet ... :-P).
oh yeah, and ive been trying to study for my upcoming driving test. i finally have to bite the bullet and go for my japanese driver's license test and it's pretty much a given that everyone fails their first time. we'll see if i can avoid this and get it done the first time (keeping my fingers crossed).
to the class of '06 ~ congratulations!!! wish i could be there, but im sending all my love!!!!
Well everyone, it's official ... I live in a beautiful place! Check out some of these pictures ...
This is at my local park, only about a 10-15 minute walk from my house.
Cherry and plum blossoms, about a 10-15 minute drive from my house.
View of Mt. Iwaki from Hirosaki park, about an hour's drive from house.
I'll add some of the other pictures from Golden Week onto my pictures page soon (if they fit within the month's limit). This last week was a lot of fun! Monday and Tuesday I had work, but as soon as work was over it was all play, play, play. Tuesday night, peole came up to Kanagi to check out (a quite impressive) fireworks show. The next day we headed down to Hirosaki park to check out some cherry blossoms, it wasn't quite peak yet, but it was still absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, there were blue skies, and I even got a little sun burned! Thursday we headed to Fujimiko Park for a barbeque under the sun and then went to Karaoke at night. Friday, people came back up to Kanagi again for a Tsugaru Shamisen (Japanese string instrument that is from the area where I live) competition. Saturday, we went to go see cherry and plum blossoms ... the plum blossoms differ in color from the cherry blossoms, which tend to be white or pink, whereas the plum blossoms are a much more vivid pink or purple color. And today, there will be more cherry blossom viewing in Kanagi again.
Ahhhh ... I love spring!!! Everything is turning green, and it's getting warm, and just all around beautiful! I even have daphodiles growing in my yard! I always used to love fall (still do), but I'm starting to appreciate spring now that I can experience a true spring (southern California just kind of goes from hot to warm to cool to warm to hot so you don't get the extreme seasonal changes that you get here in northern Japan).
All around in a good mood! Feel as if change is in the atmosphere ~ and good change I hope! :-P
It's May, it's warm, flowers are blooming, and skies are blue! Isn't it great?! Well I have been in Japan a little over 9 months now and sometimes it still feels like I just got here. It's amazing how time flies when you are having a good time!
Last weekend was great ~ Friday night, we all went to Dai hachi for some good food and drink. Then on Saturday we headed down to Hirosaki park to lay out under the (not yet blossiming) cherry trees and soak up some sun, eat festival food, and partake in the oh so celebrated yearly event known as hanami (litterally flower viewing, but usually just means hanging out with a bunch of friends under [hopefully] blooming trees and drinking). There were a few ambulances that went by, most likely due to alcohol poisoning because some just drink far too much at these things, but other than that the atmosphere was festive. We had people come by and play drums and do tradiational dance, or at least what appeared to be traditional dance. After it got dark we all headed back. Sunday I cleaned house (again) and then had dinner and watched "The 40 year old virgin" with Becky. Man that movie is hilarious!
Today I'm heading down to Hirosaki park again and then tomorrow people will be coming up to Kanagi to view a fireworks display. Then Golden Week starts ~ essentially a 5-day weekend that is enjoyed by most people in Japan, except for the poor souls that actually have to work during that time. My plans have not been set in concrete yet, but I imagine they will include hanami and relaxation!
I have uploaded some of the pictures from the weekend onto my photos page, but here are couple of photos from the weekend:
Here's Dan, Yuki, Chris, Me, and Midor in front of Hirosaki Castle and the barely budding Cherry Blossom Trees.
Hanami relaxation with Mandy and Aki, and I think that's Paul off to the left.
oye, just as i made the determination to blog more, im still neglecting it for a week at a time! ~ was that even proper english? i think im getting to the point where i don't know what proper english sounds like. im trying to remedy that by reading more, but i just haven't had the time recently. so i apologize for any misusages or difficult to understand language :-P
so school has started and i have been busy!! i didn't think the new schools would really make me that much more busy, because ive kind of gotten the hang of things at school. but im telling you, i was wrong! im realizing that because i wasn't here in the beginning of the school year last year (i came 4 months after it had already started because japan's school year starts in april) theres all these new lessons i have to plan because ive never taught them. also the elementary schools are keeping me busy with the new curriculum and what not. and keeping me tired too! last year, i only went to elementary schools once a week, and id put all my genkiness (energy) into the lessons and just go all out. but now im going 2-3 times a week and its a little more tiring. but im actually having a really good time. the schools are great and i feel much more comfortable with all the changes because of my experience from last august.
oh yeah, remember that desert dirt phenomenon i told you about? well thats over, thank goodness. it actually only lasted that day, and then it's kind of been raining off and on since. although, we did have an absolutely gorgeous day on sunday. blue skies all around! went for a walk in the park with some friends in the morning, then went to a meeting in the afternoon, then went to another friends place for a little barbeque ... an awesome day! friday was spent down in fukaura with loads of gaijin for a friend's brithday party which was lots of fun. here are some pictures ...
birthday boy ben is oh so nicely chiking meredith, birthday girl is up front and center, thats yuki next to me and mari in the back round. see that awesome necklace i'm wearing? that was a gift i received from angel in a care package jack and angel sent me with all sorts of goodies in it! soo nice!
lovely ladies at the karaoke bar. there were about 10-12 japanese customers in there when we arrived and not 5 minutes after, they all left when the gaijin started singing. guess we scared them off!
about to upload a bunch of other new pictures, so check them out on my pictures page!
alright i guess thats about it for now. definately be more updates in the coming weeks with all the cherry blossom festivals, and golden week, and who knows ... maybe a date? ;P hmmm ... love you all!
so i woke up this morning to find my car absolutely filthy. my neighbor came out and mentioned something about it and the reason why, but i didnt really understand what she was saying. on my way to school, i noticed all the cars were dirty. everyone had that same window shield look, dirty except for where the whipers can reach. finally found out the reason why. apparantly, the gobi desert on the western side of china, received absolutely no rain or snow this last winter (go figure, it's a desert) and every once in a while this phenomenon happens where the winds starts to pick up and actually carries the desert sand/dirt accross east asia and on to japan. the skies were all hazy today and its because of this desert sand thats being blown over from china. crazy huh? and get this, they think it will be like this for at least a few more weeks! yay, hazy skies and dirty cars ... sounds like fun huh?
today i took a walk around town and some of my kids, or old kids i should say (from the 2 schools i no longer go to), came running up to me to say hi and have small talk. its really nice when u go around and u see smiles on kids faces because they see u (or maybe i just look funny and thats why they are smiling :P) instead of tears. yesterday i had my first lesson with the new 1st years at one of my elementary schools. they were really genki (all 8 of them!) except for one student who started crying anytime i tried to get him to talk in front of everyone. :( but he did have fun as long as the activities were group centered. the cutest thing was when all the 2nd years (i teach them together) were being all supportive and helpful towards the new 1st years. kids are soooo cute sometimes!!!
i cant wait for things to turn green and for the cherry blossoms!!! everything is still so brown but hopefully that will all change within a couple of weeks.
also very jealous of everyone who's going to 06's graduation ~ i still cant believe u guys are going to graduate in a month!! its amazing how time flies. wish i could be there, but ill be there in spirit!
yes people, it is officially warmer!! for the first time in a very very long time, i did not need to turn on my heater last night. isn't that amazing?!? well i think so :P
last weekend i went to a couple of ladies nights and then did a bit of sight seeing (although, it's not at its prettiest right now, we just needed to get out and about). sightseeing was spent with ben, aki, and brian and we walked down the longest wooden bridge in japan at a very nice park with confused cranes. stay tuned for pictures, i'll try and get them posted within a couple of days.
japanese class on mondays has started up again. had my first classes at the new junior high school today. only had 2 classes with the 3rd years and it was actually a lot of fun. ive been hearing horror stories about the school, well not quite horror but i think u can get what i mean, so i was a bit worried. but it turns out that these kids are pretty similar to my other junior high school kids so its not bad at all.
been keeping myself busy at the board of education planning lessons and trying to put together a yearly curriculum for the elementary schools. somehow i was motivated to start being serious about work again instead of just wasting time at the BOE. perhaps the 9 month hiatus from school has finally caught up to me and i miss being productive and feeling useful. so my new goal is to start being productive and feeling useful! :P
one last thing ... you know whats nice? when you go somewhere and you see people you know. ive been trying to take walks/jogs around town and everytime i do i see people i know and we wave and say hi. everytime i go to the store i see people i know. a couple of weeks ago i ran into a random sgi member i know in hirosaki while eating lunch with another teacher. ran into someone else i knew in hachinohe. i think "bumping into people" (and by people i mean not only JETs but japanese friends as well) is a sign that ive been here for a while and slowly but surely making my niche here (not to mention that i live in a relatively small area). its a nice feeling.
i know, i know ... i've been neglecting my blog recently and i apologize. there's just been so much time and so little to do i tell ya! well actually not really, i've been keeping busy the last couple of weeks so read on for all of the juicy details (well maybe not so juicy :P) ~
so let's see, where to begin. i think the last thing i updated u about was my trip down south and the birds coming back. since then, the snow is continuing to gradually melt and the snow around my house is almost completly melted! although it's still quite chilly, still using my heater in the evenings and the mornings.
last week and this week have been spent at the board (or bored as one of my friends put it) of education because it's spring break but unlike teachers in the states, teachers in japan don't get to bank on the vacation time and still have to go to school. i have been somewhat productive in the office though. i read a 600 page novel (called the historian, wasn't bad either), studied some japanese, organized the worksheets ive made for school, started typing up lesson plans for elementary school and various other little tasks to keep me busy (aka from falling asleep).
last weekend i hung out with some friends, went to a ladies clinic in hirosaki, met up with a teacher, enjoyed a friends birthday party, and went to hachinohe (3 hrs away) for a meeting. all in all a full weekend id say. check my pictures page in a couple of days for some new pictures.
oh for all my sua friends, guess what? i saw danny habuki on tuesday! he came to aomori to give a lecture (which was crazy, he didn't even know that i was living here, and i guess there is someone from aomori who is going to be part of the 6th class) and so i got to meet up with him for a little bit. it was so strange seeing him here, but nice too. it made me miss sua like crazy though and it was kind of sad to think that part of my life is really over. i cant believe the 2nd class is going to graduate next month!!! i wish i could go :(
so there's tons more i can blog about, but ill finish with this last little bit. i never knew i was a flower person, but apparantly i am! in japan, they shuffle around the teachers almost every year and when a teacher leaves a school they usually get going away gifts from teachers and flowers and the whole deal. well because i was leaving kanagi junior high school, they actually treated me like a regular teacher leaving, and i got money and flowers. well when i brought the flowers home and put them in my living room, i realized i really like flowers. they are just so fun and happy and really brighten up a room!!
anyways, i think ill finish with that. ill try and update more frequently ... i promise!! love all of u back home and miss u!!
yes everyone, the birds are back!!! and you know what that means? that means that spring is almost here and winter is almost over ~ woooo hoooo!!!!!!!!! yesterday, i saw flocks of migrating birds (i think ducks) flying in v's returning to wherever they go during spring and summer. and today i saw flocks of geese flying in v's overhead and settling down in the rice fields - perhaps for a midflight snack. one of my teachers thinks they are flying to siberia. its just such an amazing feeling to see all of the birds coming back ... we don't really have anything like that in california ... actual signs of seasonal changes (well at least in southern california) with bird migration and such. its amazing to witness and amazing what it does to your inner spirit. right now im just so giddy and happy!
last weekend was a full weekend. friday night, had an enkai with my school although i didnt drink at all and went home kind of early. then saturday night was the big st. paddy's bash in hirosaki and that was a lot of fun. got to see some people i havent seen in a while. wore green, drank yummy malibu with orange juice, and pretended to do irish dancing ~ something i think everyone was doing except for the actual irish people. afterwards, we went to karaoke and as always, crazy jet action and singing occurred. then headed back to kevins place where it seemed like 20 people were sleeping over at, so it was VERY cozy to say the least. well i got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep before meeting my teacher to head down south for our little trip.
so our trip down south was to an area called kanazawa. it has lots of tourist sites and nicely kept-up old buildings and beautiful scenery. we went with a tour group and it was very japanese. we had to go to the same places together, and stay together as a group usually, and spent much time on the bus. i ended up sleeping a lot, but when i wasnt sleeping it was actually a really pleasant trip. got to see a lot of places, mind u not for very long because we could only stay for an hour or so. but it was very beautiful. met up with some friends on the first night and stayed at a really nice hotel. the second night we stayed at an older hotel with a really nice onsen and good food. had a lot of fun with my teacher, we were making fun of each other the whole time and just laughing a lot (well when we werent sleeping that is). i posted all my pictures from the weekend already on my picture site ... so check em out. but here are a couple for ur viewing pleasure ...
here's me with mark (an irish man) at the st. paddy's party
this was an awesome tree in a world heritage park called kenrokuen park.
go check out the rest of pictures :)
oh yeah, one more thing i wanted to blog about. so u remember my pictures of my house in the snow right? there was loads of snow all around my house, but its been melting like crazy. still had a lot towards the back of the house though, along with the wooden panels that protected my windows from all the snow. well my neighbor (the one who used to help me shovel in the mornings) either really misses shoveling snow or feels the need that my snow should be melting faster because he has been shoveling for me again, towards the back of my house. when i went away this weekend, he took care of a large chunck of snow and also put away all of my wood panels (totalling 5, each the size of a large door!). i wasnt gonna bother with it because i figure its going to melt eventually, but i think he missed shoveling snow or the exercise or something, so hes been in the back shoveling for me! such a nice man ... although i wonder if he just thinks im lazy :-P hee.
it's friday and ahead of me is a long weekend ... woo hoo!!!!
i was pretty busy this week too ... english conversation lesson tuesday night, dinner with a friend wednesday night. meeting on thursday night. and tonight is a school enkai (drinking party to commemorate the end of the school year). then tomorrow is a huge st. paddy's party in hirosaki. and the next day i'm headed off to kanazawa city with one of my JTEs until Tuesday! AND ... it's actually supposed to be kind of warm this weekend, warm meaning high 50s (possibly, possibly low 60s). so exciting ... the snow is melting so quickly - i wonder if most of it will be gone by the time i get back from kanazawa. some how i doubt it, considering the 2 -3 feets of snow in a 4' x 5' area around my house. i can always hope!
next week is last week of school until april, but still have to go to the board of education every day during spring break, oye! No such thing as spring break for teachers here! but it's all good, i'm sure it will be a laid back 2 weeks and then i'll be thrown back into the craziness of lesson planning and an all new schedule. well stay tuned, i imagine i'll be posting pictures of all my adventures this weekend.
oh yeah, remember ... all it takes is a little elbow grease, and u can get almost anything off! at least i can ;-P
supposedly the first day of spring is next week and it was starting to feel like that for a while here, but not yesterday or today. it was freezing cold and snowing again! oye, u can stop snowing now! looking out the window right now, ud think it was january again!
at least it was somewhat warm last weekend which means i didnt freeze in my house where i stayed. it was the first weekend in a long time to spend the whole weekend at my house. i did some cleaning, some walking to the store, some movie watching, and some cooking! i made good stuff too ... i think it would be ok for me to start asking people over for dinner knowing that i can cook some decent stuff ... heee.
i had my last visit to kanagi elementary school on monday and the kids were sooooo cute. i had to give a little farewell speech in the morning, and then all of the kids sang a song and thanked me. then i ceremoniously marched out of the gym between all of the kids. hehe. then throughout the day i received notes and littles origami and had little kids hanging all over me. it was really cute. its a little sad to be losing them. the staff said i could come back at any time to play ... :) ahhh ~ and then i had my last lessons with the 2nd years and the special needs class at kanagi junior high school was today. the kids thanked me for the lessons and then that was it. remember how bad i used to say the 2nd years were? man, now they are cool! but alas, i'm leaving. it's all a part of life, change ... and snow! hee.
so school is really slow right now. i only had one class today and now that that's done i don't have much else to do. i need to prepare for the elementary school visit on monday, it's going to be my last one at that school :( but i need to wait for some clarification on the schedule before i can do anything. so until then, i'll tell you what i made for dinner last night ...
honey mustard grilled chicken (http://chicken.allrecipes.com/az/HoneyMustardGrilledChicken.asp) --> the sauce was really good!
and a tomato avacado salad (http://salad.allrecipes.com/az/79604.asp)
it turned out really well, if i say so myself. i got the recipes off of allrecipes.com which is my new favorite site. it was a healthy meal and it felt nice to cook at home (not to mention, it probably saves me some money). i think ill spend my weekend relaxing at home (something i haven't done in a very long time!!), trying different recipes and such. i think tonight's dinner will be angel hair chicken pasta (http://chicken.allrecipes.com/az/nglHirPstChickn.asp). :P
Happy Friday everyone!
highlights from the week/weekend:
-made snickerdoodles and watched american wereworlf in london with a friend.
-helped sell raffle tickets at a futsal tournament for charity
-saw loads of people i havent seen in a long time in aomori city and we danced and drank the night away (well i didn't drink so much)
-went to an onsen and the pool was full of oranges
-saw that mystery guy who was supposed to go on that blind date way back when, but only briefly ~ he did call me by name though!
-cleaned my house (finally)
-had a japanese lesson, followed by an english lesson in which i got to eat some good homecooked japanese food
-saw more of my driveway than i have seen since november!
-went to another onsen that was really nice and almost walked into the sauna naked thinking it was only woman, but realized it wasnt just in time ~ that's why they gave us those funny robes! :-P
all in all, it's been a pretty mild week i guess. nothing major as of yet to report, but stay tuned ... u never know what could happen! ;)
so ... will explain the title later in the post.
got to go snowboarding on wednesday night after nearly a 2 week hiatus and it was great! Thanks to the snow, the slopes are no longer icy. They aren't really fluffy with snow either as the snow that's falling is much more of a heavy and wet snow. But still, had lots of fun.
graduation at the junior high schools was yesterday and man they go all out for junior high school graduation here. decorate the entire school, all the teachers have to dress up really fancy, and then we sit through long speeches and occasional songs sung by the kids. then at the end, there is this ceremonial send off where all the kids stand in lines, bow, thank the teachers for everything they've done, and then they march out of the school and they are done. it turned into quite the emotional event for many of the students and some of the teachers. i definately dont remember them making that big of a deal when i was in junior high school! but it was nice. i'll definately miss the kids next year.
luckily, i have this years kids to look forward too. and man did they provide me with some entertainment today, unintentionally too (at least i hope so). we were covering similes today and how to make comparisons using as ~ as . For example, he's as sneaky as a fox. well, with any language, you make mistakes in the beginning because you don't know all of the rules or cultural meansing behind it. and sometimes, they are just really creative and make up hilarious sentences. here are a few that were intentional ...
Rock music is as noisy as my grandmother. ~ apparently they don't like rock music, maybe.
Utada Hikaru (popular Japanese singer) is as beautiful as a frog. ~ you think that's supposed to be a compliment?
My grandmother is as strong as Godzilla. ~ go grandma!
and then, there were a few mistakes that just resulted in a fit of inside laughter while trying to keep a straight face and explain thats not how we'd use the word in this case. they had to use hard as an adjective (you know, Science is as hard as math and so on), but apparently in japanese you can describe people as hard ... as in a difficult personality and what not. and u can english, but we don't use the verb hard, but when you do ... this is what happens:
Jimmy is as hard as Mark.
My teacher is as hard as my brother.
He is as hard as Suzy. ~ hmmm.
And the last one of the day was one in which the student made a simple mistake with the letter, because the alphabet can still be difficult at this age, mixing up b's and d's and a' and o's and apparantly, j's and p's.
He pumps as well as Jim --> supposed to be ... He jumps as well as Jim.
Anyways, had me laughing!
kanashii means sad. the two schools i'm leaving have finally found out that starting april, i will no longer be coming to their schools. one of the teachers that i'm really close to (we are actually going on a trip together towards the end of march to kanazawa city down south, or have i already mentioned this?) said she was shocked. when i came to school yesterday, many of the teachers said they were sad to hear i was leaving and the students pretty much had the same reaction as well. in a way, it's nice to know that i've had a nice enough presence here to warrant such a reaction. i met some of the people i'll be working with in april, but only for a short period of time so i couldn't really gage what it would be like. apparantly, one of the junior high schools i'm going to has some, shall we say ... a little troubled with behavior problem students. so that should be interesting ~ hmmm. actually i'm looking forward to the change in some ways because it will force me to grow, force me to leave what is now my comfort zone and start a new again, well with 4 schools anyways.
other news ... the sun has stopped shining and it's snowing again. but i don't think to the extent that i'll have to shovel. the weather just can't make up it's mind ... it's spring, then winter again, then spring again, then winter. at least that means i might be able to get in some boarding a couple of times before the season is over!
oh yeah, i think i'm not going to drink again for a while. i never really drink when i'm in the states, but in japan, man it's a whole other story! drinking is such a huge part of their culture here. it helps every loosen up and take a break from their over-stressed lives. but it also means spending money and not to mention, harmful for the liver and what not. last week i got to go this sake tasting party and it was really good. had the best sake in the area with the proper foods and it was delicious! then a couple of days later, went out with my friend's student's mom and her friends and that was hilarious. whoever said japanese women are demure need to meet these women after they have a few drinks! they were hilarious! anyways, that was another drunken night (mind you there had been one just a week before as well). so, in the words of one of my friends, i'm starting to feel pickled and thus will take a break. which is fine, because any of you who know me know that i can have a good time and act just as stupid when im sober as when im drunk!
school is really slow right now. graduation for the 3rd years is tomorrow so pretty much all classes have been cancelled to help prepare for the graduation, which means i get to sit in the office doing nothing but pretending like i'm doing something productive of course! i'll fill you in on graduation tomorrow.
Yup, that's right ... there's talk that the worst of the winter is over people. The sun has been shining on and off for the last week, the snow has been melting, and my house was actually 10 degrees celsius (50 farenheit) in my house when i got home from work yesterday. now thats just freaking amazing! i havent had to shovel for over a week now and there's a good chance that i wont have to from now on. this weekend, we had beautiful blue skies and and could see for miles and miles and you know what? this places looks completely different when the sun is shining, you'd think you were in a different place all together. the only downside to all of this fantastic weather is that the snow on the hill is turning to crap and i dont know how many more times im gonna get on the board before the season is over. but im welcoming the blue skies and sunshine with open arms.
other news ... it looks as if my schedule is going to be completely different next year. i'm loosing one of my junior high schools and elementary schools to eric (both of the kanagi ones near my house) and getting 4 new schools (3 elementary and 1 junior high school) that are all at least 15 -20 minutes away. in november i might have been a little relieved to hear this but now im used to the schools and actually really enjoy them. i do get to keep my favorite school but it looks as if that will also be changing significantly with new teachers coming and old ones leaving, including one of my English teachers.
so just as i was getting used my current schedule, ill be getting a new one. but i guess thats the life of teachers in japan. unlike america, most teachers (not of their own choice) are moved from school to school usually every 3 - 5 years and the longest they can stay is 10 years. no one knows the actual reasoning behind it, but a friend made a good point that because of how the working conditions are for teachers here (they all share the same office and have to interact all of the time), being able to move schools is only fair because if u get stuck with a bunch of teachers that u dont get along with, at least u know u wont be there forever and u dont get bitter. so everyone tries their best to get along. everything is transient and thats life! although it does mean that ill have to do a lot more self-introductions and get used to an entirely new schedule again ~ oye!
well thats my two cents for the day (or week). hope you all are doing well! ill be enjoying the blue skies and cool temperatures as much as i can because i know come summer time, im gonna be dieing of the heat again and just "loving" that whole sweating in my house without even doing anything bit
:-P
so i had an awesome weekend!!!!! it started out with some good curry at akbar's in aomori on friday night. then kevin, ben, and aki and i got on the night train to sapporo. luckily (or unluckily because it was more expensive) i had a bed instead of a regular seat. there were some really cute kids sleeping in the same cart as well so i talked to them.
arrived saturday morning at around 6:15 and headed to brian and aly's room to crash on their floor for a couple of hours. after we woke up and got ready, went down to odori park to see the festivities! was able to meet up with yuka, a friend from sapporo, and kevin, aki, and ben. the weather was absolutely amazing!!!! it's been a long time since i've seen blue skies and it was definately welcomed. we all walked around the park and checked put the awesome sculptures. then we all met up with becky, meredith, and midori to have soup curry (famous in sapporo) for lunch.
after lunch, we headed down to susukino to check out the ice scultpure road and again, it was absolutely amazing! i dont even know how many ice sculptures there were but they were fantastic ~ dragons, turtles, bailey's bottle, birds, fish, buildings, cars, and many more! after the ice sculpture road, we split up.
me, aki and aly met up with one of my friends, yuriko (from sapporo) and we did some shopping. after that, i met up with daichi (another friend from sapporo) and 2 of his friends who later became my friends :) we headed back to odori park to see all the sculptures lit up with the lights and that was really beautiful. then it was time to meet up with everyone again for dinner. at long last, we finally sat down for a an hour and half tabe and nomihodai (all you can eat and drink ~ but not like buffet style) and that was fun!! we all had to wear bibs to prevent meat juices from getting on our clothes and then stuffed ourselves with beer and meat!
after dinner, we headed to a bar and met up with some other people. then it was time for me to catch a train to go spend the night at my host brother and sister-in-law's place. almost didnt make the train though, had just got on as the doors closed behind me! but finally made it and talked with the sister-in-law for a while and then went to bed. the next day saw my host brother, and met up with my host mom (even saw my host father for a bit) and we did a little shopping and had lunch together. then back to aomori! didn't get home late because the train was late (thats 2 out of 3 times that my train has been late coming back from sapporo! what's up 
man!).
all in all, it was a very short trip but very nice! got to see the festival, hang out with lots of friends, met up with the host family and the weather was perfect!
check my pictures page for all the pictures from the weekend!
well at least in this neck of the woods ...
i declare yesterday as the day of the ultimate "jifubuki". fubuki means blizzard, but the kanagi area calls them jifubuki because the blizzard comes from the ground as well as the sky. i have never seen it as bad as it was yesterday. on my way to work, i literally couldn't see anything but white with occasional mild breaks in the storm. i saw 2 accidents (not major, one truck went into a snow bank because it couldnt see and the other missed a turn and ended up on the side). we didnt get our milk for lunch because the milk truck got an accident as well. and it usually take 5 minutes tops to get home from work, but yesterday it took 45 minutes because of traffic and the conditions. at least today is better!
im heading to sapporo tonight, woo hoo! check back for pictures of the snow festival and such in couple of days!!
get ready for another snow (shoveling) post ...
so you know how i said there was a bit of a melt going on? well thats all well and done. This weekend it snowed and snowed and snowed, and just wouldn't stop until it dumped the most in one day during this entire winter. so you can imagine my surprise after waking up this morning and finding my car and house just burried in snow (mind u i had just shoveled the day before). luckily when i was about to start, one of the sgi ladies in town was walking down my street and saw and offered to help. she ended up helping me the entire time and what would have taken me at least 3 hours turned into an hour and half. she said she was happy to do it because it's good for "shape up!" hehe.
let me tell ya though, i thought i got up early this morning (started shoveling around 9) but aparently not early enough. all the nearest dumps were already full so my first dilema was trying to figure where in the heck i was going to put all of the snow. finally figured that out and then i had a brilliant idea for an invention for my town ... so we have to put the snow in the dumps that are on the side of the street and are about 4 or 5 feet deep. well on heavy snow days they fill up pretty fast. so my idea is to have compressors in them so that the snow can be smashed down as much as possible to allow for more snow to put in because most of snow is just air, or at least it seems like it. but alas, i dont think my town would have enough money for that, so we'll just continue shoveling out our houses, filling up the dumps, and shoveling the dumps so we can put more snow in it.
i miss blue skies. when i was in california i used to love it when it rained and was all cloudy. but i think i can count the amount of clear sunny days that we've had here on both of my hands. i never really think about it until i see a patch of blue ski and im like, wow ... it's blue, with this really glazed look on my face. i feel like im the fish in finding nemo when they see the light down at the dark and they just want to touch it. but at least after a good snow fall it is really beautiful out.
what else ... i know there was more i wanted to blog about but i cant remember right now. sorry ... maybe later :-P
alright! even though i waited till just about the last minute i was successful in buying tickets to sapporo to see the famous snow festival. if u don't know about it, i suggest looking it up on google because it looks fantastic. essentially they carve massive sculptures out of snow; makes sense to me, what else r u gonna do with it! well i missed this festival by about a month when i studied abroad there, but not this time! although it will be a short visit ... 2 days! and i think just about everyone from aomori ken will be there ~ can't wait!
found out why i can understand my neighbors when they talk to me. i thought they had lived in that house for a long time but it turns out that they've only lived there for 4 years and they are actually from down south near kobe. and i just thought they were one of few older people who can speak regular japanese in kanagi ... nope, it's that they can't speak the tsugaru dialect!
we've been having another melt the last couple of days. it's getting everyone kind of confused about what to expect from the rest of this winter. it started really early and so there's a possibity it might end a little earlier than usual as well. who knows now! at least my pipes aren't freezing anymore :-P
happy last day of january! man how time flies!!
well this last week was actually pretty busy. tuesday i had my private english lesson with the older lady and it went really well. started reading a book about an expidition that goes all wrong on mt. everest due to a severe storm. she really liked it but its a good thing ill be here for at least another year because i think it will take that long at the pace we are going at :-P wednesday night did some studying over at becky's followed by an episode of desperate housewives. thursday drove down to hirosaki for a private japanese lesson. friday, met up with friends in gosh for some food and drinking (minus the drinking for me though). saturday, met up again for more snowboarding followed by good food and karaoke. and today im going to try and buy train tickets to sapporo to see the famous snow festival (yuki matsuri), but theres a chance they may be all sold out :( see how my luck goes.
and my friends, thats about it. of course there was the occasional shoveling. oh yeah about the shoveling ... it appears as if my neighbors think im used to shoveling now and so i dont receive nearly as much help. but thats ok, they have enough to shovel themselves! now its just a bit lonely when i shovel because they come out after im done ... ahhhh! they say the worst of the winter is february and then it starts to let up a bit ... one more month!!!
i miss mexican food and going out for breakfast.
to many things! or at least two :-P
i was able to come home early today because i finished early at the elementary school (which was a fantastic visit ~ love the little ones, they are so easy! hee). probably should have gone to the board of education but you know, i was never told that if i finish before my hours on my contract that i had to go to the boe so i figure its ok every once in a while not to go.
last time i blogged i said how bad i sucked on the hill ... well that has changed too! went snowboarding thursday night with some coworkers (ran into some other friends too) and did a lot better that night. then i went on saturday and sunday and was doing a lot better. still very cautious on the hill though :-P
because of recent improvement on the snowboard, my relationship with the snow has become a love hate relationship. u need snow to snowboard right? its also really pretty after a new snow! but if it snows that means i have to shovel it and thats the part that im now so over! (u know this wouldnt be my blog during winter if it didn't mention some sort of snow shoveling!) too bad there isn't a way that it could only snow on the mountain and not here ... ahh, alas this is not california!
i dont think i ever wrote about my blind date either. well technically it was a group blind date and very japanese culture! one of my japanese friends and i saw this guy who was cute and her cousin knows him. so we told him to set up something up so we could meet him. so he said he would set up whats called a gokon, esentially same number of guys and girls go out to see if there is any chemistry. so it was supposed to be me and my friend and the guy we thought was cute and some other guy. well we showed up and her cousin and some other guy was there. the cute one had a cold (supposedly) so essentially there was only one available guy there and lets just say i wasnt feeling it at all. oh well ... maybe next time! should keep my options open :-P
so i finally bought my own snowboard, boots, and binidngs and the whole get up after years of going maybe once or twice a season. the last time i was on a board was actually 2 years ago and even then i wasnt that great, but i was slowly improving. well i went up on the hill on sunday and you would have sworn id never been on a board before. i sucked ass!! haha ... AND ... the conditions were really bad, it was practically like shaved ice. BUT ... i will not give up! escpecially not after spending that money on my equipment. i am determined to improve and possibly actually get semi-decent on the hill!
it's bitter-sweet though because i want it to snow but i dont. this last week, we've actually had a bit of a melt and hasn't really snowed all that much. i know because i havent had to shovel for nearly a week and that part has been amazing!!! i think it's just that i'm so ready for winter to be over at my house but not on the mountain. can't have it all though!
school has started again, first day back today and it went alright. but it means that i'll have to start going to bed early again so that in the likely chance that ill have to shovel snow i can wake up early. i just wish the sun rose early because i hate waking up when it's still dark. it just feels so wrong!
funniest thing that happened today ... i was told by one of my coworkers that i looked like kim basinger. hahahahahhaha! yeah ok, thanks! it's been a long time since i've been compared to anybody famous and at that time it was julia roberts. well, i guess everyone's gotta look like somebody right and i guess i dont mind looking like kim even if it is only one person who thinks so! ha
nothing much else to report. went to work and didnt do much. maybe after saturday night i will have something to report ;) hmmm, maybe!
well i'm finally back in kanagi. actually came back a couple of days ago, but you know ...
had a great time in tokyo. got to meet up with lots of people including andy!
it was really nice seeing everyone! also enjoyed my last few days in a land without snow. went to "sgi town" in tokyo and ran into some people there. the craziest one was steve mortan and that was in a convenience store!!! of all places to run into somebody ... must have been good timing. anyways he said to say hi to the family and bros! also saw cece and karina from the 2nd class.
well the trip up to kanagi was much more enjoyable than the trip down. got to ride a really nice bus back up. rode 2 trains to get home and when i got to my house my jaw dropped!! this is what i saw ...
see those two little black specks? those are my windshield whipers and they are under nearly 2 feet of snow! i forgot to tell my neighbors that i was going down to tokyo so they didnt shovel for me and when i came back they said they thought i was sick or something because i wasn't coming out. oye ... sorry for now telling you and making you worry! :/ well everyone stood by to see if i could get into my house and after trecking thigh deep i made it to my door and got it. settled down and went to tackle the snow. shoveled for about 20 minutes before my neighbor came out and started helping me. an hour later my landlord's wife came down the street and saw we still had a ways to go so she got her shovel and started helping. then she went and got her husband and he came and helped too. it still took over 3 hours just to clear the area around my car and to my door though! it was crazy!!! thank goodness they helped though otherwise it would have been a really long day.
the last couple of days ive been relaxing at home and cleaning. did some shoveling yesterday for another hour and half. at least i'm getting my exercise! and it's actually not as worse as other areas in japan that are really getting hit hard! finally back to work tomorrow so life should be getting back to its regular schedule of waking up at 5:30 and going to bed at around 9 or 10! heee ... fun, fun fun!
check my pictures page for other pictures! :)
well as you could guess from ann's last post, i'm in tokyo and you know what? it's the first time i've been in a place with no snow since november! yup, you read correctly, november! it's crazy but im enjoying it! yesterday, arrived early and waited for ann by drinking cafe mocha in starbucks and reading. then ended up hanging out with ann and had some good ole TGIFridays and it was crazy. i seriously felt like i was back in america because the menu was all in english and there were loads of foreigners in there and it was actually kind of nice :-P
today i was supposed to meet up with ann again, but she got sick :( she's fine now but not without a trip to the hosipital and an iv drip ... so everyone send her cards and stuff! so while ann was sick, i spent the day in shibuya. and for most of you who might not know what shibuya is, it's crazy!!! it's the place with the huge tv on the side of a building (u know from the movie lost in translation and others too im sure) and with more young people in one place than i've ever seen in japan or, anywhere for that matter, before. and so many foreigners too!!! well went to starbucks again and read a while. then headed to tower records and spent like 3 hours in there and ended up buying 6 cds ... something i havent done in i dont know how long. then walked around and discovered that shibuya has a subways - the sandwhich shop, el torito (actually saw that yesterday), claire's accessories, wendy's, hagen daaz, and the body shop!!!! so i did a little shopping :P i wouldnt want to spend a whole lot of time here, but its definately a really cool place to come to every once in a while. you dont really feel like your in japan, but in a way you do, i don't know its weird. but cool! hee
now im back at naomi's listening to one of the cds i bought, Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance. She sings one of the songs from Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants that i really like and the other stuff is pretty good to.
tomorrow, i'm supposed to meet up with andy and then with some other soka peeps for dinner so im excited about that. ann get well soon so u can come join!!
not looking forward to going back home because i hear they are getting loads of snow!!! you know, snow is cool and all but if it stopped snowing now, i wouldn't be too sad. maybe the snow around my house will magically disappear ... hehe ... hey, a girl can hope right! until then, i'll enjoy tokyo and the warmth even though they think its cold here.
the cutest show ever is on tv right now. its compsed of maybe 5 minute segments of kids doing chores for the parents. but they arent just any typical chores ... these kids are going shopping and taking things to their parents, usually with a sibling but sometimes by themself. essentially one of the parents tells the kids what they need to get or do and then the kids go off and a camera man follows them. luckily i can understand kids and man they say the cutest things ever!! "come on brother, lets do this!" sooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!! i dont know, u just gotta see it :)
so i shoveled for nearly 2 hours today and only got the pathway to my door and around my car done. gonna try and do more tomorrow before i leave for tokyo. the weather was actually somewhat warmer today, making shoveling a bit more easier until i got to the main street where all the snow had melted, making pushing the snow on the sled a bit difficult.
alright, well i guess thats it for now. man, these kids are soooo cute!
My first post on the first day of the year of the dog (take that sentence ridden with prepositions Professor Williams ~ hee :P). Well the first day is rapidly coming to a close even though it's just beginning for many of you back home. I wanted to send a big shout out to everyone who sent me stuff in the mail, it was a great homecoming (much better than the snow) after my brief vacation in Sapporo.
Jack and Angel ~ thanks for the video - it's such a cute move, i've actually already watched it twice and the greek boy is soooooo cute - at least i assume it's from you guys. can't wait to read the book as well!
Jessica - thank you for the lovely card, it's now resting on my fridge.
Mom and Dad - your package is still waiting for me at the post office but i'm hoping to be able to pick it up tomorrow.
Lisa K - thanks for the message and post card, wish i could have been there with you guys too!
Aaron and Jenny - thank you for the card, the picture of Austin is also on my fridge.
Paul - thanks for the new years post card! see you soon.
I think that's everyone ... ok, so are you all wondering how i've been in my absence from blog? well i had a great time in sapporo. got to see a lot of my friends from school and spend a lot of quality time with my host family. they recently moved to a fantastic house in which i was never cold and got to take a bath in a tub that i actually fit in (with jets too!!). ate lots of good food, received a couple of small gifts and just had a good time. came home last night and was somewhat relieved to find that my neighbors have been shoveling in front of my car while i've been gone. BUT i still have lots of shoveling to do yet. today was spent cleaning, rearranging my living room, defrosting one of my pipes, and also went to a meeting.
i'll let you in on some of my new years resolutions:
1) stop biting my nails!!! i was so good last year and then on the plane ride over to japan they got all screwed up from the luggage and just havent stopped biting since.
2) shovel more! try and keep up before my house implodes from the weight!
3) lose some weight, but maybe that will go hand in hand with #2
4) read and study more. just cuz im no longer in college doesnt mean i shouldnt stop learning!
5) write more ... i still havent sent any postcards or letters! oye. i promise i will try!!
ok, i think thats enough for now. i hope you all had a great year in 2005 and hope you have an even better one in 2006. may it bring happiness, love, and most importantly of all ... growth!!
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