until election day and I sent my absentee ballot off yesterday!! Woo hoo, now I just want my sticker ;)
I have a proposal for a study. When it comes down to it, I think most people hate taxes. They want to hold on to their money and do with it as they see fit. But we need taxes. Taxes are used to fund schools, hospitals, national programs, interstate highways, national defense, the war in Iraq, and the list goes on and on and on. What if we knew exactly where our taxes were going to be used? What if we could decide how they would be used? Would people be more willing to give more?
For example, you get your W2s and go to fill out your tax report. On your tax report, there are various boxes regarding the different areas where tax money is needed. You have the tax amount you are required to pay. From that amount, you can decide a certain percentage (say 80%) of where that money will be used. And you would have the option to give more than the required amount, which could give you tax credit for subsequent years. Anyways, you get the point right? I wonder how a system like this would work ... or even if it could work~
It just makes me so angry, there is plenty of wealth to share and yet there are so many who live in the lap of luxury, with homes for every season, cars for every day of the week, and clothes closets the size of my childhood home. Money doesn't guarantee happiness, but helping others does. We have to change as a society or we're doomed like all the other great nations that have fallen. And let's start with the kids. Let's ensure that they are healthy and have a good education, or else we are really asking for it!! Alright, my rant for today is done :P
On a lighter note, I'm thoroughly enjoying the fall colors here and the crisp morning and evening air. (sorry, no pictures, lost my camera's sd card and the pictures on it ... so sad!). Fall has to be the best season. It has the best food. It's not longer hot, but not too cold yet. And there is nothing better than cozying up under a blanket (or a friends kotatsu) with a good cup of hot coco and watching a good movie :) Most recently watched movie ~ Penelope! So cute!!!
I went into class last Friday, and there is this boy who was laughing uncontrollably. The teacher says a name in Japanese, and I thought I got what it meant, but wasn't quite sure. The kid runs to the door and goes outside for a sec, then comes back. In comes another teacher and says in plain English, "He is gas sniper!" Apparently the kid had a bad case of the farts because he had eaten watermelon earlier. I couldn't stop laughing ... that kid would fit in real well with my family ;)
My new school schedule is proving to be a challenge just because I'm much busier now than I was before. Most of the schools are great. But there is one school that I don't necessarily look forward to going to. Most of the classes are pretty good, but the 6th graders are crazy! They remind me of kids back home! I ran into a few of them last week when I was riding my bike around and the boys decided they would greet me with "Hello Doggy!" and the oh so lovely "F*** you". I didn't bother reacting and just left, but told their homeroom teachers because there is no way I'm going to stand for that. The boys did apologize and our next class together was better, but I think I'm in for a nice little ride with these guys! :P
Luckily, this is balanced out with other good schools. One of which, on my second visit, the 5th and 6th grade girls all gave me little cards or presents for my birthday (3 weeks early!). I was totally surprised and almost cried! heee ... that school only has a total of just over 50 kids!
It took me long enough, but I have finally sent out my form to get my absentee ballot. We are entering a new era and I want to make sure my voice is heard. American politics are fascinating. The entire world is watching because what happens in the States will inevitably effect everyone else. I don't know if Americans truly get this or not, but I think (I hope) that it's becoming more apparent to the American public. During the last elections, I know there were many people who voted according to their moral beliefs because a moral country will be a good country, but I hope people will look beyond that and realize that issues such as abortion, gay marriage, etc. will not help the economy or our relations with other countries. Man, I can go on and on about all of this, but I won't. Let's get informed on the issues and exercise our right to vote! Yeah! hehe, now if I only get my ballot in time!
Being at a new school is interesting. At my old schools, all the kids were used to me and didn't make a big deal when they saw me, but now at my new school, all the kids just start giggling any time I say hi to them or when they come and try to talk to me. It's cute, in a funny kind of way :P
Well, I hope everyone is taking care of their health, because for a while there, I sure wasn't! At the beginning of this month, I participated in Aomori's Nebutas and (for the 3rd time) in Goshogawara's Tachi Nebuta (the best festival in the prefecture). It was loads of fun, as always, but I didn't get much sleep and I ate nothing but festival food (hot dogs, yakisoba, takoyaki, ice cones, etc.). A few days later, I got Chicken Pox pt. 2 (otherwise known as shingles). I was lucky because I noticed it early and got the right medicine, so I didn't have to go through all the pain associated with it, but in Japan they say it's caused by overexerting yourself. So please be careful not to overexert yourself!
After Nebuta was over, I went to go see the host family in Sapporo and it was great seeing all of them. AND they took me to COSTCO!! It was so weird seeing everything in super-bulk in Japan when everything tends to come in such small portions. I wanted to buy everything! heee
In other news, I'll be on Aomori local tv again. This time, it will be about 10 minutes on a program called "Iiideba Eigo Juku" which is a program that teaches English and Tsugaru-ben (the local dialect). It's a really popular show among the locals and it should be fun. Rachel-san (the main character, who is adorably sweet) will come to my school next week and surprise all my kids when she runs into class during one of my lessons. Then we will do a little conversation and quiz and then they'll take me somewhere else to finish the rest of the filming. And it will air next month the day after my birthday. Kind of cool huh?
Watching the olympics in Japan is definately different. I get to see some sports that don't get much coverage in America; judo, ping pong, field hockey, etc. Although, I miss the coverage in the States.
This part of the country has been shaking quite a bit recently (unfortunately my blogging hands have not ... sorry Dad!). We had another big earthquake last week, but all is fine in my neck of the woods.
I've officially started my fourth year on the JET program and everything has changed once again. I had to say good-bye to all (except one) of my schools. I only almost cried once and that was because a girl was crying in the front row when the whole school was singing a song for me. But the kids were sweet and wrote me letters and gave me small gifts.
I've gone around to my new schools, but since it's summer vacation there are no classes. However, I'm now based at a junior high school instead of the BOE and it is absolutely fantastic (so far). One of the first things my supervisor said to me was, "Everyone says I'm a bit abnormal. But I just consider it different. I'm normal, but a little different." I know we are going to get along well! The other English teachers (there are 4) seem really cool too. All women and relatively young (I'm a day older than one of them!), so now we are the English sisters.
There's tons of stuff (much more interesting) I want to blog about, but have seem to encountered a brain freeze, so here are some recent pics:
My last class with one of my 4th grade classes after a game of English Dodgeball
For 3 weeks, all of my schools made marshmallow popcorn balls. The kids loved them but the people at the store must have thought I really liked marshmallows and popcorn because I think I bought nearly 50 bags of marshmallows and 20 bags of popcorn kernels!
Maiko disovers the "joy" of cleaning up the marshmallow goo
Nori and I went hiking up to see the Black Bear Waterfalls ... it was purdy!
me and Nori :)
I've received a few worried messages because of the earthquake that struck northern Japan on Saturday, but I just wanted to let you know that everything is ok up here in Aomori. The epicenter was located in the prefecture south of me. It was quite a strong earthquake and I could feel it up here. It was really long, 30 seconds, and very wavy, kind of made me feel dizzy actually.
My boyfriend learned a good lesson, try not to be on the toilet when an earthquake hits. Apparently all you can think about is what in the hell are you going to do if the earthquake gets stronger and the toilet breaks, eeek! I couldn't help but laugh at that :P hehe
Smells are fascinating. The principal's office at one of my smaller elementary schools smells just like my grandparents' house used to. And no matter what school I go to, the gyms always smell the same. It must be that kid scent I guess :P It's kind of comforting in a strange way.
I just watched the news and saw that gas was up (and over) $4 a gallon back in the States. Gas has also gone up here in Aomori. If I calculated correctly, it's about $6.55 a gallon here :O I don't even know how much it would cost me to fill up a whole tank because I haven't done it in so long!
Looks like I'll be riding my bike around a lot more! Yay for exercise :)
Yesterday we had fried gyoza (Chinese dumplings), sauteed veggies, wan tan soup, and rice for school lunch. I asked one of the kids if he liked Chinese food and this is what I thought he said:
"I like Chinese food, but I don't like Chinese people"
My jaw dropped and I instantly starting thinking of activties I could do to encourage more international/intercultural understanding. At the same time I felt very sad this a boy of 12 years old would say something like that. Anyways, I talked to the teacher after lunch to try and figure how best to approach it. She told it was actually a big mis-understanding and that what he actually said was:
"I like Chinese food, but I like produce from China"
It still sounds weird, but the reason for this is because a few weeks ago, there were lots of people who experienced food-poisoning from frozen gyoza imported from China. There was a huge recall and now people check the label twice before buying produce and other food products. It reminded me of the Jack-In-The-Box incident. I must have been in elementary school or junior high school when some people got food-poisoning from eating there, and I remember thinking that I didn't like Jack-In-The-Box either, although I don't think I ever ate there.
Anyways, I've been super busy as always. Taiko has started again and apparently I've been appointed a comittee member, which basically means I can interchange with Taiko, flute, or symbols during the festival any time I want. Woo hoo! So now I'm trying to learn the flute.
Aomori has been beautiful these last couple of months ... I'll share a few pics with you all. And for those who haven't come to visit yet, I sure hope these motivate you to get your boodies out here!!!! Because I'm coming to terms with coming home next year, so that gives you a year! hee
Cherry Blossoms in Hirosaki
Rapeseed Blossoms in front of Mt. Iwaki
Oh yeah! I went to a wedding ... I'll blog about that next time. They are definately very different compared to weddings back in the States!
I'm friends with the bride and groom! We play volleyball together, and the bride is a YWD with me in the SGI (man, talk about codes huh? hehe)
I’m alive and all is well :)
I have lived in my new place for over a month now and appreciate everyday of it!
I taught around 500 kids within the course of 4 hours on Thursday at a new elementary school and not only did I survive, but it turned out pretty good!
I have found a new volleyball team and love Ayumi (one of my YWD friends) for it. Volleyball rocks the boat!
I started playing Taiko again and I have introduced one of my friends to it. 2 years ago I couldn’t tell one beat from another, and now I’m teaching my friend how to do it :)
It got up to 70 degrees today and it felt so nice!
I gave a speech in Japanese in front of 500 people on Sunday at an SGI meeting and made everyone laugh.
It drives me crazy how many parents drive around without child seats in Japan, and instead, they let their 3 year old child relax right up near the front window as if they were a cat! Grrrrr! Kids heads are soft yo!
Teaching Japanese kids the difference between B and V is difficult; especially since V doesn’t exist in the Japanese language.
I can’t wait for the cherry blossoms to start blooming within the next week or so!
It’s scary how fast my English level is going down the tube, need to start reading again!
And now some pictures for your entertainment (or if you just want to see what’s been going in the land of apples and abroad):
fun times with the family and great weather!
i had no idea seattle had cherry blossoms too!
best friends getting our nails ready for the wedding (bride is getting hers done too)
it's official! hello to the Rabbitts!
I found my street in seattle ~ i should move there :)
geese on their way home for the summer ... this is right behind one of my schools.
my new apartment!
i love it!!
5 days and i will have internet at my house! it's kind of sad how attached i've become to it ... oh well, i guess that's a trademark of the X-generation or whatever we are called :P
which one would u want to stay at?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23745120/
i think i'd like to try the harbour crane or hotel everland (most definately!)
so i'm finally in my new apartment and it's seriously heaven compared to my old place. i ended up having a total 13 people help me move over a course of two days and worked out pretty smoothly. unfortunately i haven't been able to unpack everything yet, but the goal is to get that done before the end of the week :) due to silly complications between the phone/internet company, i won't have internet access at my house until april 1st now, which means no new photos uploaded until then :( nor will i have my internet calling plan ... but i can always receive calls :)
japan has the weirdest names for makes of cars: march, cube, fix, that's, etc. but i saw the weirdest (or maybe most inappropriate) name for a car the other day. as i was waiting at a red light, the car in front of me was called a "la puta". now, i'm no expert in spanish, but isn't that ... um ... bad? i should have taken a picture!
It's officially tomorrow, but the guys from the office are coming to take a bunch of furniture and then friends are coming tomorrow to help with whatever is left over. Moving is biotch, but also refreshing at the same time. You get rid of all the crap you never needed and see things you thought were lost forever. For example, I had given up on an tank top last spring because it had just seemed to vanish. I found it yesterday rolled up in a ball tucked away in an old duvet cover. I think the elves are at work :P
I won't have internet hooked up at my house until the 24th, but once I get hooked up again I'll post all the pics from my trip to Seattle/Spokane a couple of weeks ago, which was amazing by the way! I can't wait to see everyone again!!
Ok, back to cleaning~packing~trashing ...
recently i have been soooo tired and just don't feel like doing anything. i was talking about this with my district leader and this is how our conversation went: DL "well maybe it's a seasonal thing ... you know, like the winter blues." A "yeah, but i've never experienced anything like that." DL "then maybe it's your age, it always hits around 25" A "uhhhhh, ok it's a seasonal thing!" i will not submist myself to age! :P
one of my new years resolutions is to post a blog at least once a week (starting today :P)!
we had mexican food right before i went back to aomori. it'll do until i go back to america next month :)
near one of my schools ... i don't know if you can see it but i thought that cloud looked like tornado kind of ~