Stuffs of stuffdom that catches you up to stuff ^^

Random highlights:

At the store a while back, I ran into some of my third year JHS students....who proceeded to hide behind the shelf in the row next to the one I was in and pop their heads up to see me then giggle and try to hide again......my only thought "if you're trying to be sneaky it helps if you aren't snickering so much, ya goobers"......so I said hello which made them gasp...guess they thought I didn't notice?....then they said hello back, two of them even peeked out from the end of the aisle so I could see their face and they said hello.....the rest of the time at the store they were giggling and trying not to be in the same aisle as me.......I won't lie it was kinda weird but entertaining nonetheless lol ^^.


All of the numbered things happened in one day ^^
0. got my package from my mom and dad in the mail (didn't think it'd come since it was sunday), and I skyped with my parents (and the dogs) for a bit :).

1. Soba noodle festival with awesome soba noodles in the small village next to mine. There were two news people there one with a camera for a Niigata newspaper and another one w/ a video-recorder....needless to say being the only gaijin there and with Sadea-san (an old English teacher who taught in this area and knew most of the people in the room) I had lots of pics taken of me and was interviewed and Sadae-san kept referring to me as a "star" or "movie star" lol. (a pic of the soba noodles and stuff is in the post about food)

2. after the delicious food and great people that I met, I went to Sadae-san's house where she gave me broccoli, potatoes, dakon radishes, peppers, coffee, creamer, and sugar....and she served me tea, coffee and snacks (all of which were delicious), and showed me her house. She also showed me a photo album of past ALTs of Sanpoku and an album from when she taught at the Jr. High and told me fun stories and pointed out who was married to whom and who had kids and how one of the people is a famous movie director and so on.

3. Went home to get stuff and then went out shopping where I got some neat pics of sea foam, the ocean, and the sunset....felt bad for the seagulls it was sooo windy they weren't going anywhere when they tried to fly toward the ocean.....had someone pull over to offer to take my picture with the sea in the background...at one of the stores I was offered hand cream by the cashier (since I mentioned it was cold and windy, she pulled out some hand cream and offered to give me some), she also gave me an extra coupon thing ^^... then at the door I had a bunch of people hand me free reflector stickers (one guy even put them on the backs of my shoe (guess he wanted to make sure I understood what some of them were for) and a little wallet thing and a reflector sash...in the store I ran into some people I knew which is always fun, and then I ordered some tsukune (chicken on a stick) and told the chef it was oishii (tasty) which made him really happy^^, then got home and ran into one of my neighbors and had a nice, short chat :).  Here are some pics of the ocean and the sea-foam stuff, it was blowing around a lot, but it's a bit hard to tell :p. 

Here's a link to a video on youtube that shows the sea-foam floating around....and idk about the people in the video but when I was out it was freezing and super super windy xppp, but it was still cool to see ^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3abEsdg0jI 

What else..........I got to practice playing volleyball with a beach ball (indoors) with the teachers at Minami Elementary school and it was a lot of fun, they were joking around a lot and there were a few times when some of the teachers had to sit down b/c they were laughing so hard :D.  It was a lot of fun, and then we placed 4th I think in the community tournament (maybe it was 5th....there were only 6 teams, so we weren't too great, but it was a lot of fun and we came close in a few games^^). After the tournament we all met at a restaurant for some good food where I had fried rice in oyster sauce (I think it was oyster sauce, the menu said kakisa-su ) anyway, that was a lot of fun ^^.  

I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner, the night before I went to Chika-san's house with Kamimura-san and their husband and boyfriend (chika's husband and kamimura's bf) and we had a really tasty hot-pot meal and cake.  The hot-pot is where there is a pot of hot soup-broth/water in the center (with a small burner underneath so you can heat it up) and you put in bits of fish/meat and veggies and let them cook and then fish them out ^^.  It was really good and had the carrots cut into tiny hearts^^.  But yeah, that was a lot of fun sitting around and chatting with good food.  Then on Thanksgiving I had Sadae-san over and I made some chicken/turkey (one turkey leg mixed in w/ chicken), stuffing, spicy carrots and daikon radish slices, tomato soup, mashed potatoes, and chocolate pie ^-^.  Everything turned out pretty good and Sadae-san really loved my stuffing, which I gotta admit was very tasty :D, though I made it completely from scratch (boiled the chicken and turkey leg to make stock) and used Thyme, which really made it taste good^^.


I did some listening tests at the JHS.  The kids were nervous, so I let them practice/ask questions real quick before they started.....and gave them stickers....and that seemed to help lol :D. Most of them looked really relieved once it was done and were really chipper after class lol........though sadly I didn't move them along at a fast enough pace and so a few of them had to take it after lunch on Friday. :p.....but, oh well, I regret nothing ^^.  The tests were rather simple and it really seems to have helped the kids warm up to me more....it's been harder to click with them b/c of how little I do in the classroom and they do their own thing at lunch, where as at the Elementary schools I do a lot of the teaching and get whisked away at recess by the students....but either way^^ things are going more smoothly w/ the JHS students so that's a nice relief.  Though sadly, I gave some of them candy from America the other day (b/c it was close to winter break and b/c I wanted to share/give them incentive to speak English)...I also arm-wrestled some for the candy... but one of the teachers heard them talking about it and I was scolded (sorta, not a very stern scolding, but still) for giving them candy and was told that such things do not promote well for learning environments............and while being scolded all I could think was, "I wonder how much worse I would've done if I didn't have candy, it helped me study and remember and gave me incentive to get good grades b/c then I got candy or ice cream or pizza, and so on"....but c'est la vie, though I still can't help but feel bad for the students in Japan, such a strict lifestyle, it's no wonder they have a lot of issues with stress :p.  

I felt a tiny earthquake in the beginning of December....At first I thought it was the wind at first (the wind gets pretty strong, I've been almost knocked over by it), but then I realized more than my windows were shaking a bit....nothing major (though it hit harder elsewhere) where I was it just felt like bobbing a bit on a raft in a pool.  

The nursery schools had a dance festival where the students did dances, it was really cute, though sadly I could only make it to one of the nursery school's dance festival. But the students dressed up for various themed dances, like samurai, princesses, ninjas and so on^^.  The Panda class (the grade just before Kindergarten) had a dance about shrimp, and they had bandannas with a picture of crab attached to it...and one of the boys was very happy to do the dance and when he got off the stage he was walking sideways and crouched down with his hands up (in pincer position, pinching at the air) like a crab with a huge smile on his face lol. Needless to say the dance-thing was super cute.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it, though at one point two little girls were crying on stage, but they still said their verse in the song when their time came, but later on they cheered back up more^^.  

I had a get-together with some ALTs, and their Japanese friends and their family in Murakami to celebrate Christmas, and that was a lot of fun. I made the delicious spice cake, it was so nice to bake again^^. But we basically had fun talking and catching up and eating and cooking good food, so it was a lot of fun to see everyone and eat good food and bake ^0^.  And then, on a different day, I met up with Kamimura, Chika and their husband/boyfriend to have a Yakiniku dinner xmas party where we did a secret santa thing.  I got a comfy pillow to sit on.  The yakiniku is were there is a giant hot-plate thing in front of you (kind of like the really big ones and you can make a lot of grilled cheeses or pancakes on them) and you cook meat and veggies on it and pick them off when you want to eat them. We had pork (a bit of pig heart too, chewy but not too bad) and mushrooms, onions and peppers, it was pretty tasty ^^.  And as always it was a lot of fun hanging out with them and chatting and such ^^. 

Lastly, the end of the year party, kinda of amusingly placed on Dec 21st lol.  It's the party where the teachers stay at a very fancy hotel/onsen and eat, drink, sing karaoke, and enjoy the onsen and basically party/relax the woes of last year away.  During dinner we did a game show thing where we had to guess the highlights of the past year and we got points for out team if we guessed a chosen highlight. My team placed 3rd out of 4 teams.  I realized that I am no good at karaoke without a wingman/woman...I need to hear the lyrics as well as the music to do a good job, though granted I wasn't drunk and it was my first time doing Karaoke....idk if being drunk would help, prob not, but it did seem to help the others get into it.  I chose YMCA which was a really good choice b/c all of the teachers stood up and did the dance and chanted the YMCA part lol ^^.  And then I got to go to the onsen with one of the teachers, the rest went back to the bar or elsewhere, and just sit around, relax and chat, so that was really nice^^. It's nice to have someone who would rather relax and chat than party a bunch.   And yeah that's pretty much up to date...........as per usual if you want more details feel free to comment......I'm trying to find a nice place to put up pics since some of you don't have facebook....though you can try to see them there and if it doesn't work just let me know by saying something in the comments https://www.facebook.com/mary.miller.587606/photos_albums.

Food

Here are some pics of food I've eaten and some that I've made while being here....first let's have the ones of food that I made :), if you want recipes then all you need to do is comment on the post and ask me there ^^, or send me an email. 

spaghetti and meatballs (super tasty)

super tasty mac 'n cheese (gouda and cheddar)

super tasty chocolate lava cake in a cup (cooked in the microwave for 1min) ^^

chicken, carrots, and broccoli in a chicken broth-y sauce thing (kind of tasted like pot pie)

another pic of the awesome cake in a mug ^^

grilled cheese (w/ mozarella) and tomato soup (made from scratch), also super tasty^^

Empress Chili (had to make my own chili powder too lol)

Chocolate cake (box recipe) made in rice cooker, with homemade icing ^^ (this was to celebrate Thanksgiving)

fancy cheese with blueberry jam-preserves-thing, a slice of a daikon radish (sweated) on a ritz cracker), rather tasty^^

The cake (w/ the hole where I stabbed it to get ready to cut it then went to take the picture) is an amazing, absolutely scrumptious spice cake XD!

 Food that I didn't make:

bento box meal for lunch at school, it was the weekend (school festival) so the teachers ordered bentos

frozen pizza with corn (a lot of the frozen pizzas come w/ it), green peppers, weird pepperoni (more sausage-y, like brat kinda sausage in a weird, but not bad way), and very little pizza sauce and a doughy crust.....not too bad, but def not as good as what I'm used to in the states.

another bento meal at school

Soba noodles and stuff, rather tasty and was for the Soba Noodle Festival that the small village next to mine was having (I'll blog more about that later)

chocolate-coffee cake w/ various layers of creamy cocoa/coffee/toffee stuff. I got it at the local cake-pastry shop^^

fish head, well half a fish head it was split down the middle so I had the right side. It was served at the school's end of the year party (blog more later).....despite the grumpy zombie look, it didn't taste too bad.

some of the food at the end of the year party.

 

Mail :D

Ok, so there are fun postcards and stationary stuff here so if you want me to send you postcards now and again or letters feel free to email me your address and I'll write you stuff ^-^. 

Spirited Away

Ok, so I wasn't really spirited away in the same sense, but today I had a surprise visit and outing, so close enough ^-^.    I unfortunately slept in, thanks to me 2nd alarm not going off, so now I have to wait until Wednesday to take my trash out -.-........for those of you who don't know in Japan you don't put your trash outside, you wait until designated trash days where you take your trash to a dump site where it is picked up and taken to wherever. So I can only take my trash out on Wednesdays and Saturdays.....seeing as I live alone it's really not too bad and I can go without the second day....but sadly I have a relatively full bag, and now I get to wait and hope it doesn't start to stink xppp.   Anyhoo, that aside I was just sitting in bed trying to decide what to eat when the door bell rang, so I scrambled up and tried to look as awake as possible and it was the delivery guy with my snow boots that I ordered.  Less than 2 minutes after I closed the door and took the package in the doorbell rings again and it's Sadea-san (the older lady who helps me run the adult teaching class at the community center) and she wanted to go out and eat lunch and chat and stuff.  So I quickly threw on clothes and such and was whisked away to a nice small restaurant and then to her house for some mini potato-things and coffee and tea.  The mini potato things are really cool, they are the size of a half dollar to a quarter and look like, well, mini potatoes, and you can easily peel them with just your fingers. And then you eat them and they taste kinda of sweet, not quite as sweet as a sweet potato, maybe more similar to a red potato in a way.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun hanging out and she showed me pics sent from the first ALT to her of their family and kids, and we just sat and chatted ^^. 

The day before that I was asked to join a last-minute get-together with two of Kita Elementary's teachers, Kamimura-san, Chika-san and their friend at a nearby restaurant.  It was a lot of fun, their friend teaches English in a town nearby and can speak it really well and he was talking about watching the Little Mermaid in English and having to look up the phrase "take it from me" in the song "Under the Sea" because he wasn't sure what it meant.......it's always fun to have phrases like that pointed out, because you don't really realize how many things are said but aren't easily understood by foreigners until you spend a lot of time with foreigners.....though I guess here I'm the foreigner lol, but ya know what I mean ^^.   Anyway, it was a lot of fun hanging out, I got to eat some of a 'century old egg' which wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, definitely expecting a more fermented nasty taste, but it didn't really taste all that bad.  And the oyster sauce (kakisa-su) fried rice at that restaurant is really really good ^-^.  Anyway, this is a short post, but more are on their way shortly, figured it's easier to separate the subjects and put them in different posts rather than one giant blob. So on to the next post ^^. 

Looooooong time no post

Sorry for the lack of posting, been busy and lazy and neither of those things lead to updates on a blog.  Anyhoo, I'll probably have to blog stuff in chunks to catch everyone up, and winter break is almost here so I should be able to spit them out rather quickly.  Ok, so I don't have my camera with me so I'll do the posts that don't really need pics first.

~ The other day I was greated by a Kindergarten student running up to me yelling ''Mary-sensei, diasuki!'' which means that he loves me. So that was a sweet way to start the day, and then the teacher let me color and decorate my own xmas tree with the class which was sweet of her, though I still hit a bit of a language barrier with this teacher so it's still a bit rough at that school, but hopefully it won't  be for too much longer, I'm getting quite a bit better at Japanese. 

~ People in Japan like soulfull early 90s, late 80s music, especially 'xmas' music, like ''Last Christmas'' and ''Winter Song''....I find this rather amusing, the teachers were talking about how popular the songs were though I maybe only ever heard them once or twice prior to coming here.  Though you can probably imagine how surprised I was when they said, ''We're going to sing and listen to xmas music today'' and then those songs came on.  Also, I saw some stickers with Alphabet letters and a picture for each letter, like A and a pic of an apple....and the letter X had and xmas tree lol. ....well this is a short update, more will be posted this weekend and I'll try to get pics up.  I gotta get ready for an office party type thing with the JHS teachers....so I'll report on that and the rest of the stuff later.....also I may have to start designating some posts to just food lol, I've had a lot of fun cooking ''American'' dishes from scratch.

The Jr. High School's culture festival was fun, I got some applause for telling the students that I knew the opening dance to Haruhi lol.  It was a lot of fun seeing the students do relay races and little skits on the stage...though I wish I brought my other camera's memory card that way I could have recorded more of it.  Some of the teachers joined in on the skits (dancing and lip syncing and singing to songs, and one played the guitar) so that was a hoot because the teachers and the students really got into it.  If you want to see pictures or anything from that day ask me and I'll email you some pictures, but I don't want to post stuff openly since I don't have their permission to do so. 

Yesterday I got to go to a band concert with one of the Elementary schools (though all of the schools in Sanpoku went to the same thing) and I got to see the JR High band students perform with some older band people.  It was really good, and the students really enjoyed it for the most part.  After the JR High band played a few songs with them the other band played songs and then marched some stuff and had a small color guard and all.  It was rather interesting how they kept segueing back into the James Bond theme (James Bond seems to be rather popular here)...but they'd play Bond's theme, then go into something like Live And Let Die, then back to Bond and such...it was well done and very fun to watch and listent to, and I was tapping my toes in rythm of their marching because I'm a dork like that lol.   Though it was sad, one of the director people came and tried to talk to me and I couldn't figure out everything that he was trying to say to me, so I flagged down a teacher for him to talk to and from what I could tell he was just inquiring about me....I understood some of what he was saying, but not enough to respond properly :P oh well, one of these days lol.  Oh and I tried to get some of the Jr High students (mostly boys) to guess the password so they could come into the room to get their shoes and this is how it went:

Me: *with arms out blocking the Jr High kids from coming in the door and smirking* What's the password??

Students (mostly boys): *look of complete horror and confusion and one boy mimics me and puts his arms out with a confused look*

Me: What's the password. You know, Password?

Students: *still confused and panicked looking* *boy who mimicked me and put his hands out gets this look of 'I get it'...on his face.....then comes forward and hugs me w/ a  big smile on his face* *other students look really panicked now and also in awe and some 'oh is that what she meant?'*

Me: *confused and giving myself a mental facepalm* well...that's not....ok....good enough....you can come in

Students: *now look happy and relieved*

Me: (.......maybe I should explain what passwords are next time I have class with them......)

The fall colors are coming in, but it's been really rainy so I haven't had a chance to get out and take pictures, and when it's not rainy I'm usually stuck at school until it's dark out....so maybe this weekend I can get out and take some pictures....I just hope the rain and wind haven't knocked down too many of the leaves :p.  Oh, I made No Bake cookies, they turned out ok, I used Skippy so they weren't as tasty as they are with Jiff, but I didn't want to use Jiff b/c I can't find it here and I wanted to take the cookies to work to share with people, and I didn't want them to taste how they'd be with a peanut butter they can't really use.....I figured that that'd be a litttle mean.......but one of the teachers asked for the recipe and so I wrote it out and wrote down metric conversions of the measurements and drew pictures and we got it all sorted out so hopefully she has good luck, I warned her that the cookies sometimes don't freeze up right, so she may need to put them in the refridgerator. 

I've been playing an interesting version of dodgeball at one of my Elementary schools, you have this big rectangle area (like that of a volleyball/basketball court) and two teams, and the typical no crossing the halfway line....but when you hit someone they go to stand around the perameter of the enemies half and if they get the ball and hit one of the opposing teammates they get to go back to their side....and whoever doesn't have anyone left on their side (in their court) they loose.....so it's really interesting and as the game gets going if your team knocks out enough opponents there are times where you're just running around trying to avoid the ball coming at you from all sides of the small court area because the other team is on all sides of your perameter......anyhoo it's really fun, esp because if you get hit you can still play and not be paranoid about dodging the ball :D.  

Some monkeys came back to the one elementary but left before I could see them (and I brought my camera with me that time -.-) but it was funy b/c the teacher asked me if I wanted to hunt monkeys with him and he had the long stick they use to close high-up windows in his hand and another teacher was pulling out an airsoft gun lol, they were all serious and I was trying not to laugh ^^. But yeah, sadly they went back into the woods before I got a chance to take a pic and see them try to scare the monkeys off.  Though in a way I'm glad b\c it's a family of monkeys and I don't really want to be around an angry family of monkeys o.0......I can't remember what else I wanted to post so I guess I'll either post it later or remember it at very inconvenient times and/or forget about it.....anyhoodle, hopefully I keep this trend of posting more often, eh?

stuffs

Ok....long time no blog...sorry for the delay, anyhoo, let`s see.. Here's a basic highlight reel, feel free to ask for more details on anything, just post a comment asking for more info and I'll post more........


Well the third grade class got to ask me questions and tell me something about themselves a while ago, and to help them remember how to say certain things in English they wrote down hints and pronunciation and words on their hands so they`d start talking w/ their hand held out as if they were holding a slip of paper, but lo and behold they were reading off of their hand lol.  One kid actually had a slip of paper and a few kids were brave enough to not write anything down, but the majority of them had stuff written on their hands (and one kid had stuff that extended onto his arm a bit lol)

Oddly enough it seems that people in Japan understand that syrup goes on pancakes, yet the ratio of available pancake mixes to syrup is way off balance, there is a lot, a whole lot of pancake mixes (a good chunk of them like Bisquick that can be used for other things too) but very little pancake syrup, and the syrup usually comes in very tiny bottles that are expensive....just something that makes me wonder as to why it's so off balanced when they seem to agree that syrup on pancakes is a given and you can find it in restaurants but not stores -.-......

One of the elementary school got two sheep to take care of. They are young sheep, brother and sister, and just old enough to strike out on their own....they were kind of terrified at first, though who wouldn't be after going on their first truck ride and then the first contact w/ a lot of people were 1st-3rd graders that were squealing with glee and making a lot of noise and quick movements.....but the sheep have since calmed down and seem to enjoy the kids, especially at recess where a bunch of them clean out their pen and gather food for them to eat and there's always a group that goes hunting for the specific tree leaves that the sheep really like to eat lol.  And if I am out there with them a few of the kids start singing ``Mary had a little lamb`` in japanese lol.

The soccer tournament I played at was a lot of fun, I ended up playing in 7 or 8 45min games (half field), though the last one was shortened to 30 min (thankfully b/c everyone was exhausted by that point). The ride down was long but a lot of fun, we sang disney songs and had fun in conversations and ran around a sports store and such.....and on the way back we were all groaning and moaning every time we had to get in and out of the car b/c we were all so sore lol ^^. 

Had Sport`s Day at one of the Kindergartens which was fun, I got to participate in tug-of-war with the parents and grandparents, as well as a relay race :).  The students were very happy to have me there and it was a lot of fun to watch, and it was great how they had activities for the parents/grandparents/siblings that way the kindergartners could cheer on their family while they took a break^^.

I got to make a recording for a test w/ my JTEs (Japanese teachers of English), which was interesting and I only messed up once lol, though it was with the one teacher that I tend to mess up more around, but oh well, if I started out too gracefully they`d get surprised when I flubbed up, so at least this way I can be amazing for not messing up ^^....but in all sense it wasn`t a big flub...the 1st JTE had me repeat the # of the question before saying the question a second time, and the 2nd one didn`t want me to but I did on one of the questions, so not a huge mistake lol, but enough of one to where we had to re-do it and such. One of the other mess-ups that I have had with the 2nd teacher was in class where he asked me to tell the students to clear their desk so that we could start the lesson in the textbook....a simple enough command ``clear your desk`` but what tripped me up for some reason was that their textbooks were on their desk and he just wanted the worksheet to be put away, and when I said put away the worksheet I got confused looks b/c that wasn`t something they`ve heard...and so the JTE told me ``no, tell them to clear their desk, like I always do``, which added to the confusion b/c he doesn`t say that that often and I couldn`t remember when he gave an order to put the worksheet away but didn`t use the phrase ``put your ws away`` and used ``clear`` instead of ``put`` but doing that doesn`t make any sense b/c ``clear your ws`` would mean to erase the stuff on it and wouldn`t really translate to ``put it away``......anyhoo all of this was running through my head while I gave him a confused look and he kinda sighed annoyingly and said, ``ok, clear the worksheet`` and they put their worksheet away  -.-, which still leaves me at odds with that phrase, it doesn`t make much sense to me, but it`s the one that gets the students to put their worksheets away so I guess it works?? idk I`m still kinda confused by the whole thing, b/c you`d think he would have been ok w/ me saying ``put your ws away``....anyhoo so that was a rather odd and confusing mess up, but like I said, at least it now gives me a bit of room to where he doesn`t expect perfection of me lol.

I went to the Culture Festival at one of the elementary schools (I was unfortunately informed after the fact that the other elem. had one the same day -.-), and that was fun, I got to meet some parents and see some of the student`s art projects and see a comedian they invited in.....though the other school`s students just used the next time that I taught there to show me stuff that they had displayed at the festival, so at least I got to see some of the stuff from both schools ^^..........let`s see what else......the Junior High`s culture festival is this weekend, as well as an outing with the teachers at a restaurant....so that should be fun......and that`s going to be it for now, I`m tired of sitting around :p so off to do something else, prob go get some food to cook for dinner.......  

So quiet in the peanut gallery ;)

.I'm kind of surprised you've all been quietly waiting >.> I kinda took a while to post again.....anyhoo ^^.....Ok....let's see what all has gone down since my last post .....I bought some flowers b/c the yard is rather bare, though it still is since the flowers are on my little stoop and not in the yard....but that is beside the point, they still help add color to the front of the house^^.  Umm, I ran into some of my elementary school students while I was shopping, it was very amusing. They were with their parents and when they saw me their jaws dropped and had a "holy crap it's my teacher, but outside of school" look of disbelief on their face lol.  But after that initial shock of running into their teacher outside of the school they cheered up and gave me huge smiles and said hello :).  There was a beach BBQ party the other day which was pretty fun. It was nice to meet up with people and just relax on the beach ^^.  After the party two people crashed at my place, Phylicia and Cat, and then we went to Murakami to see the Castle ruins, which were on top of a small mountain and you had to walk up...which wasn't too bad, but once you reach the top there's a sign that basically says "congrats you reached the start of ruins and you have a lot more hiking up and down and around the mountain if you want to see them all.  Since it was really hot and humid and tired (and Cat and Phylicia wanted to head out to a festival in Niigata) we decided the bits of the ruin at the start were good for now and that we'll go there again later.  After they headed off to the city I went back home and then ventured to the small town just north of mine to take some cool pics of the sunset :), pictures can be found on facebook and I'll load them to flickr later (but flickr is being difficult so idk when that'll be).

Ummm....what else.....not really too much that I can think of...I tried to find some soccer shoes but to no avail, one store told me they can order some (only two brands in their catalog went to me size) but it was going to cost like $100 something so I told them I'll keep trying.....I was told to check out a bigger city, but I might try amazon and another website first....Ummm, oh there was an earthquake drill at one of the Elementary schools while I was there. Basically the alarm sounds they hide under their desks and then once it's clear they go to the gym and do role call and that was it  for the drill, but they also had an earthquake simulator outside.  The simulator is like the size of a small moving truck, where the back part is rigged to shake around, and the students get into the special section and sit at some chairs by a table and then it shakes like an earthquake and then that's it.  They all seemed to really enjoy it, and hte teachers kept trying to get me to go do it too, but we literally ate lunch 20 minutes or so before this happened and I wasn't about to loose my lunch. The teachers all had a good laugh when I told them "No earthquakes after lunch", but they agreed that yeah, it wasn't the best time to be rattled around in an earthquake simulation thing lol.  But yeah, the kids had a blast and it was fun to watch^^.  Oh and my Junior High kids had a good laugh at my expense...one day I was just not with it (most likely b/c it was a late night and I was woken up in the middle of the night by a cat yowling outside of my window -.-).  I went to go to class ahead of the teacher b/c he forgot something so I started to go to the 3rd floor...but the 3rd year students are on the 1st floor, I remembered this halfway up the first flight and turned around....and then I couldn't remember whether it was class A or B, and both classes didn't have a teacher in them yet, so I walked into class A.  After me standing there for a few seconds and saying hi to them one student says "This isn't English class".  So I hang my head and reply "Really" and then dramatically slump toward the door to play up the moment (I figured I should at least get a good laugh/story out of this) but then perked up just before the door and cheerfully went back to the front of the class saying "Naah, It's English class now, you're stuck with me." Which they all cheered (this made me feel loved ^^), but then I told them that sadly I couldn't change their class around like that and went to my real class.  Walk into my class and the teacher is already there and gave me really confused look, so I told him (loud enough for the students to hear) how I went upstairs, to take the senic route, then to the wrong class and such...which got everyone giggling but as far as I can tell no one thinks less of me for doing this.....and I'm glad that I did this toward the start of the year rather than in the middle b/c then I wouldn't have much of an excuse lol. ......anyhoodle that's all that I can think of for now, so adios. ^^

Sports Day

Ok, so for Sports Day the entire school is split up onto either the Red Team or the Blue Team.....which immediately brought Red vs. Blue to mind and thus I had quotes from the show constantly popping up in my head....not that that's a bad thing lol.   Ok, so most of the events are relay-race based where the kids have to do things like walk on balance beams then grab a bag off of a string with their mouth and spin around w/ their head on a baseball bat, and such things....or the handing off of a baton to the next runner....or a combination of everything.  I got to participate in a short relay race of teachers vs students...but I think the teachers didn't finish the race and only ran most of it to get the kids riled up?....I'm really not entirely sure what went on with that >.>.   Most of the time I was just a spectator sitting by myself, so I felt like a bit of a third wheel since all of the other teachers had something to do, but I didn't want to ask for stuff to do because they were all really busy and since no one is fluent in English it would take up time they didn't really have to explain things to me. So I sat there and watched.  A college student (from Sanpoku) came over to say hi to me and she spoke English very well, so I asked her about the different things on sports day and about Sanpoku and such...but I had to shoo her away because she was sitting in the teacher's tent with me which is, for teachers.  I was a little sad about that...but they were afraid that other people would flock to the tent (where it was nicely shaded) to get into the shade and use talking to me as a cover-up. Which is understandable that they would worry about such things, but other than her and the occasional teacher or student and one of the special guests, no one really said anything to me. It was really hot that day, but overall I enjoyed myself. I'd say that my three favorite events of the day were: 1. a game where groups of three students held up and carried another student wearing a hat, and the various groups tried to steal the hat of the guy being carried in the other groups.  2. a game where the family members had to throw in beanbag things into a basket on the backs of some students while the students tried to run away and prevent the beanbags from getting into their basket. 3. a duel nicely synced up to some music where two students pretended to have one of those standoff sword duels where they eventually both charge and pause then one of them falls over...when the one fell over the fireworks went off which added a nice dramatic flair to the whole thing lol^^. 
      As fun as sports fay was I was glad when it was over, it had been a long week of introducing myself over and over and trying to figure out what all of my duties are, and I was ready for some R&R. The enkai, or office/teacher party was a lot of fun, and right after sports day.  I almost missed the bus because not all of the teachers were taking one, and I was under the impression that everyone was riding the bus...and the bus was more of a giant van and didn't look much like a bus, so when they said the bus will be here I was looking out for an actual bus.  Needless to say one of the teachers luckily asked me just in time if I was riding the bus, and yelled out the window and told them to wait for me.  Once we finally got to where we were going it was a nice restaurant/onsen thing.  For those of you who don't know what an Onsen is, it's like a giant heated pool area, this one had an inside and an outside section...the outside section was built to make it look like you were in an actual hot spring w/ rocks and a mini waterfall and all. First you shower and wash up, and then you go sit naked in the giant heated pool/hot tub thing....same gender of course.  It was really relaxing and very nice and I kind of wanted to soak a bit longer since it was such a nice night out, but we couldn't stay in long because our food was waiting.  The restaurant part was more traditional styled where you sit on flat cushions on the floor, with a lazy-Susan in the middle of the table and the food is placed on the lazy-Susan for people to spin around and get their food. It was more Chinese styled food, served in smaller portions so there was a lot of selection. There were chicken based dishes, some hot some cold, some shrimp, spicy curry, and other stuff that I have no clue what it was.  And at an Enkai it's all you can drink beer, and people refill your cup before it gets empty, so if you're not careful one can get drunk rather easily.  Luckily I ordered something other than beer, and had a glass of beer that I took very small sips from, and water...so drinking 3 different things (one of which you have to re-order from the server when you want more so it can't be tipped off) made it so that I could keep a better eye on how much of what I drank....and having three things meant that taking small sips from all three equals the drinks not getting topped off as much and having water as a selection meant I could toast with it and drink as much as I wanted without worry lol....plus drinking water when drinking anything alcoholic is always a good idea.  Anyhoo, all in all  it was a nice way to wrap up a sort of exhausting and long week :).

A Promised Post.....about teachings....

Ok.....so here's another post as promised....umm so yeah teaching, just to let you all know I'm not allowed to take pictures of my students or school events and such w/out going through a lot of hoops and getting permission and all that, so you prob won't really ever see too many...if any...pics of school life. 

That aside I can talk about it^^.   Ok...so I think I posted this before...maybe not...either way, the principal at the Junior High is super awesome, he's like a real-life version of Monk Gyatso from Avatar the Last Airbender!!! He's just so chill, yet has that devious smile, and probably says some quirky/funny things b/c everyone always laughs a lot when he gives morning announcements...but alas I cannot understand him...but yeah^^ he is super awesome!  He ate lunch with us today and we chatted a bit and he wished me luck when I left to go to the kindergarten....and it turns out that in the mornings he watches the road in front of the school and makes sure that kids cross safely...I wonder if kids in Japan know how lucky there are to have a principal that makes sure they cross the street and get to school safely.  

Ok, So I got to introduce myself to the JR high kids via a short speech and a quick Bingo game that was based off of my speech....two of the Bingo games went really well....a few didn't go as well, it seems that they partly didn't understand, and were partly unsure of what to do b/c the main teacher wasn't teaching, b/c they obviously understood what I was saying and responded, but if I asked for them to raise their hands to answer a question like "who likes to play soccer" they looked at their teacher w/ this look of "is it ok for me to raise my hand?, why aren't you asking us questions too?" ....but they were all pretty sweet.  The 2nd years in one of the classes really had fun asking me questions (partly b/c they got to form groups and think of 3 questions) so in other words they had time to scheme and people to scheme with....The only personal question that I got was if I had a boyfriend....but I found out after class (when we collected the sheets that had their questions on them) that I dodged the question "what was your first love like"....though sadly I also missed "if the world ended what would you do".....but yeah^^ they had a lot of fun and got really excited about asking me stuff. In one of the other classes there was a group of kids, all sitting next to each other, and they kept telling me that there name was something else completely...like a famous rock star, or a piece of fruit, etc etc....they did this b/c they knew I couldn't really speak or read Japanese and b/c I didn't know their names since that's why they had to introduce themselves.....But yeah, over all it was fun and the kids seem rather nice, and a lot of them happily greet me when they see me in the hall^^.  I can't wait to get a better handle on Japanese though b/c I feel that a lot of the teachers and students are reluctant to say anything to me b/c they know that I can't really understand and they can't speak English. .....Oh and I got to explain DQ ice cream cakes to a class yesterday, they all seemed very impressed to hear that there are cakes made solely of ice cream lol^^....though with all do respect ice cream cakes are rather amazing. 

Ok, so I went to the Kindergarten today....all of the little kids stared at me wide-eyed like they were at the zoo or something...or like their favorite cartoon character or celebrity just walked into their school. So that in and of itself was amusing^^.....then a lot of the kids kept jumping up trying to jump higher than I was tall....sadly none of the the teachers really speak any English so I played the guessing game of I will do my best to correctly guess at what you are saying...I'm seem to be rather decent at that game and I am very grateful for it!! But the kids had a small relay race outside where they ran while jump roping around the track....everyone cheered very loudly....oh and the kindergarten has a pool that the kids get to swim in.....and the kindergartens are set up differently class wise, they don't have the kids sit down as much as a lot of American Kindergartens do....they have the kids sit for a short story, then go to the gym and do a structured dance routine thing, then go back to the classroom to sing, potty break, then go outside to play a game, then back inside to do a sitting activity for a bit and then back to the gym to stretch and dance a bit before taking another potty break and then out to go swim.......it was very structured, like American kindergarten classes, but they had the kids do a lot more active learning, which the kids really seemed to enjoy.....let's see what else.....oh one of the kids high-fived  my boob...he was running down the hall and jumped near me (I thought he was trying to jump higher than I was tall, since that's what everyone was doing) but nope, he quickly darted out his hand hit my boob and ran into the classroom -.- *face palm*....but aside from that none of the other kids were handsy, which I was kind of surprised about b/c sometimes you hear stories (especially about the really little kids) about how they'll come up and grab your butt or boob or whatever....http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2010/10/16/touching/   and http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2009/10/04/bum-touching/  .....Anyhoo^^, the teachers were all super nice and friendly and the kids were fun too.

  Later on in the day I went to one of the Elementary schools to meet people and they all took turns (I sat in the principals office) coming in one at a time to talk to me and ask me questions and see if I had any questions and such.  They were all super nice and it was great to meet everyone! I found out that I'll be giving yet another "infront of the whole school" intro speech, and then have to have a short introduction and games prepared for all of the grade levels :p....so it'll be interesting once I have to go through all of that next week. Wish me luck lol^^.  .....meh that's gonna be it for the day, I have to get up early to take the trash out to the collection place and then go to the school Sports Day events.........so more later.....maybe on Monday if I'm up to it^^.... Oh and if there's anything specific you want me to talk about or have questions please feel free to post stuff in the comment boxes :). 

Festivals, "teaching"s, and whatsits

Ok, so new post....yeah......ok first off let's start with my adventure of: The Sekikawa Snake Festival



*anticipation*

*exhilaration*

*contemplation*

*guessed what I'm referencing yet-ation?*

*quit being a dork and just tell us about the story* >.>.....yeah ok, I'm done.........anyhoo, on with the narration ^^''''.....:   **warning I didn't proof read this**

Ok, so I went to go take part in the Sekikawa Snake Festival...for some clips of the festival follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjD1owRY2k&feature=BFa&list=PL609F365F31779939   (the videos are a tad of of order).....Ok, so I was interested in going to this festival...little did I know that the snake I was going to help carry weighs over 2 tons or so -.-....very heavy and my shoulder is still recovering....but it was fun^^. 

Ok, so I got up at 5, so I could leave by 6, get to a place to take a bus (I found out about the bus later) by 8:15 and arrive at the festival @ 8:30-9.....I drank a lot of water the day before and in the morning b/c it was crazy hot and even crazier humid....it was around the upper 80s with a humidity in the 70-80s as well....So needless to say after driving past the place where I was supposed to catch a bus like 6 times -.-....I was told to meet by the police station, but it was actually a bit down from the police station....and I thought that I was meeting at the start of the parade so I was looking for this big crowd and giant snake but it was like a ghost town w/ few people around.....so yeah I would drive past it in one direction, stop and ask for directions and head back the way I just came from, ask for directions and head back the way I just came from...I actually stopped at the right place once but this older guy (who was going to help carry the snake too) told me to go further down the road....he was trying to tell me to go to where the snake was, and seeing as I wasn't aware that I was supposed to take a bus there I drove back the way I just came from and stopped for directions was pointed back to where I was just at....but this time there were more people so I decided that it was the right spot and waited there to meet up w/ someone...who I was told could speak English...who would help me get to the parade.  So I was confused b/c there was no snake and I thought I was at the start of the parade...and on top of that I had been driving for two hours after drinking a lot of water so I had to pee. But of course the building that we were meeting at was closed so I walked next door and I saw some people outside of the house...seeing as how that was the first group of non-parade affiliated people that I saw during the past half hour of driving in and out of that part of town, I decided that they were my best bet at getting to a bathroom. So I asked them in broken Japanese and apologized and thanked them profusely and they were nice enough to let me into their house to use the bathroom...an older lady, I'm guessing the little boys' grandmother, showed me to the bathroom and showed me how to use their toilet....it was one of the weird ones that has a sink attached to the top of it and the sink turns on when you flush the toilet....I guess that way you can't forget to wash your hands?.....Anyhoo, the super nice family let me use their bathroom and seemed to enjoy having a gaijin stumbling up to them asking to use a bathroom lol.  So after that I went back to the place where the parade people were..or at least that's who I was hoping they were.....and the one person's friend still wasn't there to meet me, and a lot of Junior High and High School kids showed up, and they kept looking at me and whispering amongst themselves, some would smile and wave back, but most of them got this look of "oh crap she knows we're talking about her" look on their face if I acknowledged them lol. 
   

        Ok, so the person's friend shows up w/ her kids and she can't really speak English but she was super friendly^^....and I think she assumed that I spoke some Japanese b/c she kept talking to me and asking me questions which I did a rather good job at guessing what she asked b/c I'd answer and she seemed happy w/ what I said and kept talking.   Two buses showed up and the other parade people pretty much filled up the buses and they seemed a little annoyed that the person's friend, her kids and I wanted to ride the bus too.  But they let us on, I had to ride in a different bus than the lady and her kids b/c there wasn't enough for me too.....so I got to sit awkwardly between some Jr/Sr High school boys who seemed a little weirded out by me sitting there....and that in itself was rather amusing^^. So we got to the place where the parade started and a bunch of cars were parking in a nearby lot which made me wonder why the original person who told me to meet people by the police station didn't just have me drive another 5-10 minutes past the police station to get to where the parking lot by the start of the festival -.-....but I figured he must have had a reason so Ilet it go.  So I'm finally where I was trying to get to, and met the guy and his wife and kids (his wife is from Arizona) and they were happy that I found my way there and that I was helping out with the parade. They were really nice people, but were heavily involved with the parade so they couldn't really talk....and the other lady had to look after her kids, so after the one guy showed me to the person who I'd be standing next to while I carried the snake, he left it at that and went back to help his wife and the others get everything together.   The person that I was carrying the snake with was either in his last year of junior high, or freshman in high school...but he was nice and his name as Kiyoto....I  said his name more like Kyoto (the city) which made a lot of people laugh and then he emphasized that it was Kiiiiyoto and not Kyoto.  His dad and friends were there and they were a nice bunch, they kept trying to ask me things in broken English or very simple Japanese...and I tried to answer as best I could.  Oh and I got to meet the mayor of the city, he was a pretty awesome old guy who proudly introduced himself to me (in English) as the "Head Man of the town" ^^.  Then some people came out to play drums and then there was a Kampai! and then the parade began....oh and they were dishing out free sake and beer all throughout the parade to the people who helped carry the snake...and aside from the small shot of sake for the kampai I didn't drink any b/c I didn't want to get dehydrated. 

   The parade involved a lot of people carrying a giant snake that weighed 2+ tons about 4-5miles through the city....and we didn't just carry it in a straight line, we made it slither like a real snake...so, being in the middle I was naturally swayed (flailed) back and forth along the street as we carried this giant snake.  It was really hard on my shoulder b/c I was taller than the guy helping me carry that segment of the snake so more of the weight was on me than him...but later on a taller guy switched out w/ Kiyoto and I noticed a huge difference in how much weight was no longer directly on my shoulder...though by that point my shoulder was really sore from carrying it for a good 2+ miles so I switched with someone to let them take over and used that opportunity to take some pictures and relax a bit.   We took 5-10 minute breaks about every mile, and there were tables w/ people serving out water, sports drinks and beer to the people carrying the snake....at about the halfway point they also had watermelon and cucumbers and some other things like that for us to munch on.  I'd say I carried the snake about 3 miles before I stopped....I would've switched with some to get back in, but my shoe was starting to fall off after getting flat-tired, so I switched out to fix it and got stuck behind a bunch of people who were following the snake carriers. I stayed toward the back end of the snake since I couldn't maneuver my way back up to my spot, but seeing as the back was lighter no one really needed or wanted to switch out.  So after the next break I moved further up but on the opposite side...Kiyoto's dad and friends asked what happened to me and I told them my shoe almost fell off and then I got stuck behind a lot of people and couldn't get back to my spot which made them laugh and then the break was up, but I was on the opposite side of my spot and there weren't any empty spots on that side so I was kinda stuck....it was close to the end by that point....I stayed on the side opposite of my original spot that way if someone wanted me to take there spot then I could carry it on my shoulder that didn't hurt...but it was near the end so no one really wanted to switch out....but I was ok with that b/c I really didn't want both of my shoulders to really hurt. .....oh and the little kids got to pull a mini-version of the big snake (theirs was on wheels >.> lucky little kids) behind us.....oh and while trying to sway around a corner of the street (b/c we had to violently slither around corners....so much so that people were running trying to keep the snake together as it swung around)....it was kind of fun, and kind of "Oh my god why are we running w/ a 2+ ton snake around corners where we are all really close to each other and step on each other while walking so now  we're going to run and try not to trip o.0?!?" But we never tripped....though one section swayed too wide and got stuck in a street sign lol ^^.....oh and there was an older lady w/ a giant fan that would walk along the snake fanning us, it was pretty awesome b/c it was sooo hot. 

So the parade ending....luckily I wasn't carrying the snake at the end b/c they were running really fast and slithering back and forth really fast and lifting it up and down at the end....one girl did trip and fall but luckily she was toward the back and the people by her managed to stumble around her without tripping.....but yeah it was crazy and I was really tired and sun burnt and sore by that point, so watching was definitely much nicer than carrying it....plus I got to take videos and pictures that way^^.  A few different groups came up and did a dance of played the drums and there was some food for sale and such....and after the other groups performed the people went and got the snake again (I missed out of the finally of carrying the snake b/c I was trying to buy some more water when they gathered up...but again, I was pretty worn out and dehydrated and super crispy by that point that I was happy w/ watching.....but it still looked like fun....so maybe next summer I can help out again....and remember sunscreen!!!.....and help carry the snake at the end of the festival^^. 
     
         Oh, and several people came up to me to try to talk to me, ask me if I was from America and such, and upon me telling them that I was a teacher they pulled their kid or grandkid out from hiding behind them and tried to get them to say hi to me, and the parent or grandparent was so happy to hear I was a teacher and they acted like it was the best news they heard all day lol.  I also ran into a fellow gaijin, he was from the US as well, he was here through a different program to teach English at schools, but was good friends with a lot of JETs.....he was really happy to see me, he said he always gets excited to see fellow foreigners, especially if they're from the US too lol.  He was super nice, and I was really happy to see him b/c I had no clue how I was going to get back to my car.  The guy and his wife left after the main part of the festival was over b/c they had to get their kids home, so he just came up to me and thanked me for coming and told me to ride one of the buses to get to where I needed to go...he said he was pretty sure they'd take me back, and then he left.......And no one was really getting on the buses even though he said they'd start making rounds to take people back soon, and I asked the lady who rode the bus w/ me if she was taking the bus back and she said no (I later found out that she also tried to tell me that her parents were going to drive us back-.-).....but I just understood that she wasn't taking the buses back.....so then the fellow gaijin found me so I asked him to help me out, so he brought over his fellow English-speaking Japanese friends and we were trying to sort it out when one of the ladies kids came over and told me to come with her to leave.....so I looked confused at the others and said "I guess they're taking me back?....if not then I can just ask them too later."  The others made sure that I was ok w/ asking the lady for a ride and then I followed the little girl to her mom and grandparents and we left.....and luckily I guessed correctly and the ladies parents were driving us back to where my car was ^0^....talk about a sigh of relief lol^^....they were super nice and they gave me some mochi-cakes that they got at the festival and her kids and parents kept asking me questions that I managed to luckily guess and figure out what they were asking even though most of the questions were in Japanese....they could understand English better than they could speak it so luckily I could answer mostly in English and they'd understand most of what I said if I kept the sentences simple......and luckily a lot of people ask the same questions over and over so I can recognize a few key words here and there lol^^....but yeah they dropped me off, I drove 2hrs back to the house and showered and prepared for work the next day...oh and skyped with mom and dad^^......so it was a really fun day^^, kind of stumbled through parts of it, but I'd do it again^^....except w/ sunscreen next time >.< I can't believe I forgot to put it on, I even left it out, but I guess waking up at 5 and trying to rush out the door so I'd have enough time to try to figure out where I was going, I just spaced out and forgot it -.-....oh well.....but yeah that was my weekend......I'll try to post again in the near future (as in tomorrow) about school and my neighbors^^.  So feel free to harass me if I don't get another post up tomorrow.....and tomorrow as in Friday, for those of you who are state side and are just getting up on Thursday morning and might think that I posted this on Wednesday :p........ok g'night.....hmmm I need a catchy signature to sign out with......hmmmmm >.>................................I'll try to think of one later so you'll have to do with:   Meh :p

Oba-san ninjas!!!

Ok, for those of you who don't know, Oba-san refers to old ladies.....and there's one that looks like a ninja o.O.  She has a hood kind of like this....and I would have taken a picture but I figured that would've been rather rude, so I did not... so, instead you get this image found via google:  Ok, the lady I saw was more hunched over, so I'm guessing older, and pushing a small cart in front of her. Her hood was more box-shaped and didn't poof out as much from her head and it was dark blue just like her clothes....so w/ the face mask she was sorta like an old lady version of Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat...here is Sub-Zero:

So yeah just picture an old lady in a hood colored like this ->
and dark matching clothes similar to this as well, minus the obvious shin guards and front flap thing and stuff...but anyhoo, I am convinced she is a ninja and has been henceforth dubbed Ninja-oba-tono.











All of that aside, things are still pretty hunky dory^^. The one English teacher doesn't like sweets so I get all of the stuff he's given :D, and I finally met all of the teachers today ^0^ they all seem to warm up to me ok, especial the one group of teachers who were impressed that I like manga, especially Kenshin.  And speaking of Kenshin, but I found out that the manga-ka of Kenshin, as well as several other well known manga-kas (manga authors) live and grew up in Niigata :D, so whoot for being in the prefecture of great manga-kas!!! There's a street called Furumachi Manga Street, that has some statues of some manga characters, such as Tetsugoro Iwata, from the baseball manga Yakyukyo no Uta (A poem for baseball freaks). ^^ I'm definitely going to explore this area in the near future.

Sad to say I haven't been to a shrine yet....I think there's one really close to the house I'm in, but it was getting dark and there was a guy trimming bushes along the road up to where I think the shrine is so I didn't head up that way, but I might venture there tomorrow...after asking and making sure that's what it is, since all of the houses are more traditionally fashioned looking, I'd hate to sneak up on someone's house....especially if it's Ninja-oba-tono lol.

Also, there are crows everywhere, which makes me think of Princess Tu-tu....but seriously they really are everywhere, here's a pic:

It's hard to tell b/c they were off in the distance, but every black speck is a crow, and this is actually not the most I've seen gathered on the telephone wires 0.o. I feel kinda bad for the farmers since they have a crap ton of crows and monkeys to fend off of their crops :p.





Umm let's see.....my neighbor brought me some McDonalds the other day, I guess they went into town (b/c there isn't one close by, the closest one is like an hour away) and were kind enough to being me back a double cheeseburger and fries :). I was also given an English/Japanese (it has both languages in it) manga of Doraemon ^^, cookies and sweets were passed around the office, two big tomatoes which I made spaghetti sauce out of, and my first pay day is tomorrow ^0^. Ummm let's see anything else exciting....Ninja-Oba-tono was the highlight of the early morning...umm I cleaned a lot, and tried to get most of the cobwebs down, there are still a few that evaded me...a spider came out of nowhere this morning and was promptly squished by the broom thing in the bathroom...Umm aside from that nothing too exciting, work from 8-4 and then cleaning, shopping and such.....though speaking of shopping when I was scouting out some manga and video games I was getting lots of looks, especial by the guys when I went to the "guy" manga section looking for stuff and when I was looking at the games lol.  Oh and later I'll post about my super nice neighbors (the ones who brought me McDonalds) ^^. Oh and a found an adorable tiny tree frog while helping the Vice-principal and his wife water the flowers at the school ^0^....and watering w/ them was in and of itself rather fun^^. They are a cute older couple, she's really sweet and the vp is always super busy and running around trying to make sure stuff's in order, but he'll take breaks here and there before rushing around again. But yeah they are a cute older couple, I met her b/c she had the VP's lunch and so we picked her up at the train station and ate lunch together and she brought awesome cream puff things and the Principal stopped in to drop off tasty pudding things and slushy things, and it was a nice tasty lunch^^. Ok, well that's enough for now :p, more later. Adios^^

Quick tiddlybit of whatnot

Ok.....so as a lot of people assume, Japan is a strange place where everything is tiny except Godzilla, Mothera and that group of monsters.....well I'd like to introduce a souped up Japanese minivan :D.









I came across this in a parking lot at an Onsen. I didn't go to an onsen, I just pulled into the parking lot to ask someone for direction to the Noh performance. Luckily as I was asking for directions...and was given directions in complete Japanese-.-....two ladies who could speak English and were also stopping in to ask for directions to the Noh performance swooped in and saved the day!! ^0^.  The two women were actually good friends with some JETs in other areas and could speak very fluently in English and they were super nice!! Talk about a huge life saver ^^. Anyhoo, for those of you who don't know what Noh is, here's a link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh

It was a fun show...I have no clue what they were saying, and since it's spoken in an older form of Japanese a lot of Japanese people don't know what's being said either....but they give out a pamphlet, in Japanese that explains the main plot and such.....so it's like watching a ballet, in the sense of you may not know what is being said through the special body movements, but you know the gist of the story.^^.....but I can't read kanji so I have no clue what the plot was exactly, but I can venture a possibly outlandish guess....the first, more comedic performance was about betrayal and I think sake drinking....Two guys tied up one guy, then one of the two tied up the other....then I think the two tied up guys got into the other guys sake and drank stuff and started chanting and then got yelled at and escorted out when the non-tied up guy came back into the room....the other one was more court life style thing and was longer and more serious, and involved a guy w/ a girls mask on dancing and a samurai fighting the main court group while they were in a boat.....I'll post pics to the flickr site later. Now I have to get ready to run and figure out where I have to drop my trash off at b/c they don't collect it here, you have to take it and sort it out at a special place....anyhoo adios for now ^^. and here's a sneak peak pick of the Noh performance: