Tomorrow, tomorrow!

"Tomorrow, tomorrow, he'll be here, tomorrow!" (thats me singing to you all to the tune of Annie, haha Bonnie this totally reminds me of when we would do this every time before I would come to visit) =) Anyways, I really could sing that to you if you wanted me to... seeing that I went to Karaoke the other night!!! Yep thats right, I went with my realtor Sanae. On Monday, I went down to her office to pay rent and she had said that she tried text messasing me the other day but it wouldnt send (my texting is messed up on my phone and I need to get it fixed) because she wanted to know if I wanted to go see a movie. She knew that I had a few days off because I worked the school festival over the weekend, so she wanted to know if I wanted to go to Karaoke the next night (Tuesday) and seeing that I had nothing better to do, I decided to go! It was a lot of fun. It was just her and I and you go into your own private room and just sing away. We were there for about 2 hours, taking turns singing songs. Them Japanese love their Karaoke, its very popular here! I cant wait to take Justin there when he gets here! It will be so much fun, and next time I will take pics! Well there is nothing really new here, just counting down the hours until my man gets home!!! Just like I thought I would, I spent my 3 days off preparing for Justin to come home and catching up on chores so I wouldnt have to do them on the weekend when we could be spending time together =) All I have left to do now is my ironing, which I shall get started on! Just think, next time I post, Ill be doing it with Justin by my side! Yay!!!!

Oh and I just wanted to give a shout out to Justins friends on the ship that found my blog! Thanks for reading and Im glad you are enjoying it! =)

Bye all! <3

I survived!

Well I survived my first typhoon! Didn't even know it came through, I was sleepin like a baby =) Needless to say the festival went on Saturday as planned, it just started an hour later once the typhoon warning was All Clear. On Saturday I wandered around by myself for a little bit, (god knows I'm not going to be seen with David) and then ran into a few of my students who took me under their wing for the day. They helped me order some yummy food, then we went and saw a play together and got some cotton candy afterwards. After that they wanted to go watch their friends band play, and I decided to go take a rest at my desk. My students are nice and all, but theres only so much I can take, afterall they are high school students =) We met up about half an hour later to go see the Snow White play, but by the time we got there the line was out the door, and the theatre was already full so we couldnt go in. We stayed in line and figured we'd watch the next show that was playing, which so happened to be a dance show! You know how excited I was!! So Snow White ends and the line starts moving, and I was so excited cuz we made it into the theatre and Im thinking "yes!!! we're gonna have seats, we're gonna see the show, this is going to be awesome!!" Boy was I wrong. Yes we got to see the show, and yes it was awesome... but did we have seats? No. We stood in the aisle. They crammed that theatre full of more people than I have ever seen in one building before in my life. If someone were to have yelled fire, well it probably would have been in Japanse so I wouldn't have realized it anyways, but if they had I dont know what everyone would have done! Being in this crowded room just reminded me that I am in Japan because I know this never would have happened in the states! I mean hey, there is actually a job at the train stations where you are the person that crams as many people as you can onto the train! Haha these Japanese are crazy sometimes.


And this was only half of the room!

Anyways, nothing exciting happened at school today, it was a Sunday for crying outloud. I chatted with my Dad for the majority of the day on Gmail and when it was finally time for him to get to bed I decided I better get to work. I created a few lesson plans for next week, all without the help of David, and when I felt like I'd done enough I just surfed the web. Finally around 3:40 (mind you we get off at 4:30)David says to me "So have you thought about any lesson plans for next week?" And I said "Yep I'm all done." And he says "Really? Can I see what you did?" So I showed him my worksheet, he looked it over, said thanks and went back to his desk. I could see him starting to get to work when one of the teachers comes in and says "Ok we can leave early today, you guys can go." So I packed up my things and laughed at David on the way out. Shouldn't have waited till the last minute to do your work!! I wonder what he does for 8 hours a day on that darn computer. It just bugs me because we are supposed to be teaching the same lesson plans and here I am doing all the work. Oh well, gotta take the hand Ive been dealt.

So now I have the next 3 days off. Not really sure what I am going to do with all that time. I have a lot to do before Justin gets here so I'm sure that will keep me preoccupied, and before I know it, Ill be going to work on Thursday, only to have him meet me at the train station when I get off!! Yay!

Alright well Im gonna watch me some Friends to help pass the time. Talk with you all soon!

The school festival!!!

The school festival was soooo awesome! It was basically like a huge carnival or fair, just minus the games and prizes! There was so much to do and see! A lot of my students were perfoming in different plays like Cinderella and Peter Pan. If they werent in a play then they were behind some kind of food booth, or walking around with signs trying to persue you towards their booth, or their play. I took a lot of pictures, and will post a few of them on here! David is in one of the pictures so you can see what he looks like. The festival is supposed to continue tomorrow, but like I said, there is a typhoon coming. At the moment, the festival is still on for tomorrow, I guess the worst of the typhoon is supposed to come during the night. If it doesnt or conditons are still bad in the morning, the festival will be postponed until Sunday, and clean up will be Monday. So as it stands now I am going in tomorrow, unless I get a phone call telling me otherwise. Anyways here are a few pics from today!!


Me and my students


Me and more of my students (plus someone...)


Me and a few more of my students


A yummy treat


Another treat


Some chicken kabob


I have no idea what that says


They were good!!


One of my students was Michael in Peter Pan (in the gray)


Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

School Festival

Here is the poster I made for the school festival. Im no artist ok??? The festival is supposed to be tomorrow and Saturday, but I was just informed today that it might get cancelled because a typhoon is coming. I have no idea what that means, all I know is there will be lots of rain and wind. As if it doesnt rain enough here.... Justin said its nothing to be worried about, so Ill take his word for it!

Anyways, as of 2 hours ago, I have officially been in Japan for one month! Yesterday morning (for you guys, the 17th) my parents drove me to the airport, and I landed in Japan at 4pm on the 18th (Japan time. So around close to midnight of the 17th). I cant believe its already been a month. That just means Im that much closer to Justin getting here! Speaking of which, on my walk home today, I was thinking that Ill be making this exact walk one week from today with Justin! How exciting! Well nothing else has really been going on. Oh- I did figure out a way you can chat with me at school. I cant download yahoo messenger or AIM or anything on my work computer, but if you make a gmail account (http://www.gmail.com/) on the left hand side it says contacts. You can add my email address kbruce0108@gmail.com and can chat with me! I will forever be signed in to gmail whenever I am at work now =) so if you want to, make an account so we can chat! OK ttfn! <3

An interesting day

So today was an interesting day. Its Tuesday here, the first day of the work week this week. Had yesterday off, it was a national Japanese holiday, Respect for the Aged Day. I really enjoyed the extra day off, it gave me more time to finish the errands that I didnt get done over the weekend because I was busy trying to figure out how to hook up my American washing machine to a Japanese system, which I managed to do by the way thank you very much! =)

Anyways so I get to school today thinking it was going to be a boring day. I was told last week, and I even have it written down "no classes 16th-19th, preparation for school festival." So I figured Id work on my poster for the school festival and then leave school around 2:00 because my company was having a meeting I had to attend at 3:00. As I was reminding one of the teachers that I was leaving early today for my company meeting, she says "Well you dont have a class 5th period today right?" And Im thinking um, no... there arent any classes today (even if there were I still didnt have one 5th period). So Im sitting at my desk trying to figure out whats going on when the same teacher who told me last week "no classes 16th-19th" and even watched me write it down, and confirmed with me a thousand times that I understood this weeks schedule is different because of the school festival says to me, "Today in my class, period 3 is on lesson 2 and period 4 is on lesson 3." So Im thinkin sweet, classes today that I had no idea about, good thing I planned ahead a few lessons so I was prepared!

So I get back to my desk after one of my classes and there is a cookie sitting on my desk. The teachers do that a lot, they leave little treats for everyone on their desk, but half the time I am skeptical about what it is because it is usually some funny looking foreign treat in a Japanese wrapper, so I can never tell what it is or what the ingredients are. Well today the treat looked edible. It looked like one of those cookies that you dip in coffee or tea. I decided to try it. I opened up my wrapper and took a bite of my cookie, it was really good!!! I said mmmm and the teacher next to me says is it good? And I said Yes! And he says Unagi. Ok right away I think of the friends episode where Ross tries teaching Rachel and Phoebe about how only by achieving "true Unagi" can you be prepared for any danger that may befall you, he calls it a state of total awareness. Rachel and Phoebe make fun of Ross and tell him that Unagi is fresh water eel. Anyways so Im trying to put two and two together here as Im sitting here making sounds about how delicious my cookie is and the man next to me says something about an eel. He goes on to tell me that the cookie I am eating is made out of eel powder and is pointing to the Japanese wrapper, as if I can understand what he is showing me as he reads me the ingredients and says eel powder while pointing to some strange Japanese characters. Im thinking no way am I eating eel, these guys no how much I hate fish and are just messing with me. So I decide to do a little research on the internet and this is what I find.... Unagi (うなぎ) is the Japanese word for freshwater eels, especially the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica ...... A kind of sweet biscuit called unagi pie made with powdered unagi also exists. Unagi has a distinct taste and is quite expensive. (wikipedia.org) That sweet little unagi pie eel powdered biscuit is what I was eating!!! So now Im thinking great I have to finish this thing because I already said how good it was and that would be rude to throw it away, not to mention the internet article mentioned something about Unagi being expensive. I just couldnt believe it. I am keeping the wrapper for my scrapbook, and decided that I really need to start learning Japanese!

Well after my little cultural exerience, I had a few more classes and then my stupid company meeting which was a waste of my time. As of tomorrow, I can officially say that Justin gets here one week from tomorrow! Yay I cant wait! Alright well I have some chores to do before bed. That sounds so funny, me? Chores? Ha! Who knew!

Internet

Hi all, just wanted to let you know that I will have internet hooked up in my apartment tomorrow. So I will be able to post more, email more and call more! Sorry if I have been slacking on that, been busy trying to figure out my stupid washer =( Anyways just wanted to let you all know that!

Hello! This is going to be a quick post because I am downstairs in my apartment complex and just so happened to pick up someone’s wireless internet, except there are no plugs around for me to plug my computer in to and the battery on this thing only lasts for about 10 minutes! Anyways I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has sent me letters and cards! My mom and John “tested” out my address last week to make sure I receive mail and I do! The only thing though, if you want to send a package, or anything other than a letter or a card, you have to send it to Justin’s address on his ship. My mom asked the lady at the post office about sending a package to my address at my apartment, and she said it would cost around $50 to send the same size package that I send to Justin’s ship for $10. So if anyone needs me to post his address on here let me know! Not that I expect packages or anything from anyone, but just a heads up!

I also wanted to tell Christina that I got your engagement announcement today and it looks great! I really love the pictures you choose! Thank you so much for sending me one all the way in Japan and for thinking of me!! You’re the best!

And Mom, please tell Canda that I received her card today also. I will send out her thank you card hopefully this weekend, if I can make it to the post office, which I am hoping to do!

Anyways, nothing really new with me. Just super excited for all of my furniture to come tomorrow, and for my 3 day weekend! I will take and post pics as soon as I get my furniture arranged and everything. Ok well I better go before my computer dies!

Oh and also, I never posted information about how to call me. If you are using a phone card, to dial internationally is 011, then Japan’s country code which is 81 and then my phone number 080 6621 7655. =)

First I want to start off by saying that today was a beautiful day! For once, in the 3 weeks that I have been here I have had one nice day! It was like a perfect day in San Diego. It wasn't raining, and it wasn't too hot. The sun was out but it wasn't humid and there was actually a breeze! I think its the first day that I have actually made it somewhere without being drenched in sweat!

Anyways aside from that, my day wasn't half bad either, or my weekend for that matter. My weekend was actually pretty boring. I came on base both days to use the internet, chatted with a few friends and my family. Sunday I went out into town and tried to find a furniture shop that a lady on base told me about. Justin and I want barstools for our bartop, and not to mention I don't think we will have enough room for a dining room table and chairs. I didn't manage to find the shop though, despite my map!

Monday I had 3 classes. All went well. In several of my classes they are learning the phrase "are you alright?" and expressions such as "I have (a headache, an earache, a fever...)" or "I feel (sick, tired, sad...)." My lesson plan was having them play the card game Go Fish. I made decks of cards with several different expressions and they took turns asking "are you alright" and trying to match their "I have"/"I feel" cards. I think they all really enjoyed the game, and they got the target language down! =) After one of my classes, 2 students came up to me and asked me if I was at Yokosuka-chuo yesterday, which I was. That's where I was trying to find the furniture store. They said that they had seen me. How embarassing!! I probably looked like such a goober! In fact I know I did because I had my stupid map and I was on such a mission to find this place. Oh well what can ya do, right?

Today I had 4 classes. All did the same Go Fish activity. I finally got my computer today, so I dont have to use someone elses anymore. I was pretty stoked about that. Now I can really pretend to look busy!

On Thursday I am leaving school early because I have furniture being delivered =) 2 loveseats, a coffee table with 2 end tables, washer and a fridge. I'm pretty stoked to get all of that! This weekend is a 3 day weekend for me. I have Monday off and then work Tuesday-Sunday. I am working the weekend because Friday and Saturday is the school festival and Sunday we have to clean up. To make up for having to work on the weekend, I get the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off, then Justin comes on Thursday! That Friday my school is having a welcome party for the new alt's. Kind of sucks cuz its the night after Justin gets here. Hopefully it doesnt end really late or anything!!

Alright well its time for me to go home and microwave some mac and cheese. Thats right I have graduated from eating bread and peanut butter! You dont know how excited I was to be able to buy microwavable food at the store the other day! Mac and cheese has never tasted soooo good before! And just think, this weekend Ill be able to buy anything and everything I want with the delivery of my fridge on Thurs. No more bread and peanut butter for me!! Yay =)

More silly questions!

Pretty much my students are awesome, and I think you'll be hearing me say that a lot. During 1st period today I had more self introductions, 2nd period I taught a lesson in Speaking and listening class, I had 3rd period off, self introductions again 4th period and was free for the rest of the day. During my classes where I was introducing myself, I got asked more silly questions =) One girl asked me "Why are you so beautiful?" Unsure about how to respond to that question I pointed at the picture of my family on the board and said "My parents." Another student asked me "Why do you all wear sunglasses?" refering to the picture of my family. It was taken at my college graduation and we were all standing outside on a sunny day. One thing I have noticed is most people dont wear sunglasses here. I thought that question was cute. Another student asked me where I want to visit in Japan and one of the places I named was Mt. Fugi, so the guy that asked the question after her asked "Can I take you to Mt. Fugi?" I laughed and pointed to the picture of Justin and said "Ask my husband." I really think I am going to enjoy working with the different classes.

So for as much as I love my students, the fact that I despise David evens it out. Today he was late for our lesson, and he came unprepared!! The activity we were doing was a worksheet for the students which was a copy of an article that I read allowed and as I read it they were following along on their worksheet filling in the missing words. Well half way during my lesson, David interrupts me and tells me that he didnt bring his copy of the full article without the missing words, so he needed to borrow mine. I was a perturbed, but used the time that he borrowed my article to show my half of the students a picture of Justin, since they had all insisted the day before that I bring one =) He is very famous in my classes, they are all so interested in him, but hey so am I =) He gets here 3 weeks from today! I am so excited! It will be so much fun to show him our apartment for the first time, I wonder what he is going to think about our fun journey home! I wouldnt be surprised if he decided to stay on the ship!! Haha just kidding, the 204 stairs arent that bad. Alright well thats it for now, I have only one class tomorrow so its going to be a pretty relaxing, and probably boring day. OH! I guess my company called my school to ask them how I am doing and my school said that they are very happy with me and that Im a hard worker. I had to laugh when I heard that because I thought back on all the times last week I fell asleep at my desk while pretending to go through the text book and create lesson plans. What a hard worker I am =)

My Students!

Hi all! =) Sorry it has been a few days since I have posted. Every day I get off of work and I stop by the base since it is on my way home to use the internet. Well the past couple of days there hasnt been a good connection, or one at all for the matter. Anyways, I will finish where I left off with my last post... the microwave. So I get off at my stop and begin walking towards my apartment carrying this heavy microwave, and my backpack with my laptop in it. Justin always nags me about taking a taxi, but I am against them because I think they are a waste of money. I have never taken a taxi in the states so I am not sure if it is similar, but the taxi's here start out at $7.00. That is the minimum price you will pay, and depending on the distance it only increases from there. I think its absurd which is why I choose to walk everywhere, hence carrying heavy items. Well that night I decided I wanted to take a taxi because I really wasnt in the mood to carry the microwave up the hundreds of stairs, and not to mention is started raining the minute I stepped out of the train station. So I am walking towards a taxi and I thought I better check how much money I have because I need money to get to and from work the next day. Come to find out I had just enough money to cover my train cost for the day, so taking a taxi was out of the question. I began my journey into the rain. I had my umbrella with me, but there was no way I could hold that and carry my microwave, so I soaked up the rain =) As I got to the street I turn up to go up the stairs, I saw that it was blocked off because of construction. So I had to go the other way to the house which is all up hill, and there are no are no stairs, but it takes a lot more time. As I started my way up the hill, carrying my microwave in the rain, hating my life and wishing that Justin would call so I could vent to him, a car drives past me and pulls to the side of the road just in front of me. So Im thinking every curse word in the book about how nice it is that this person is now blocking my path and how nice it must be to be in a car and Im getting soaked in the rain, struggling with this damn microwave, when a Japanese man gets out of the car and asks me if I want a ride. Well I dont really know what he asked me because it was in Japanese, all I know is that he took my microwave from me and put it in his trunk and opened the car door for me. I handed him my notecard that has my address on it (in both english and Japanese for this sole reason) he reads it and says "Hi, Hi" which means he understood where I live. So he drove me up the hill and to my apartment and it was then that I realized why I love this country so much, and how lucky I am to be spending the next 6 months to a year here. The people will bend over backwards to help you, so next time you see a Japanese person in the states, smile at them!!

OK enough with that time to tell you about my students and how awesome they are! On Tuesday I had to give a short introduction about myself to my Oral Communication 1 class. I had pictures of my family, of Justin and I, postcards from back home, of CSUSM and my high school and just shared with them a little about me and where I am from. The class only has 9 students so it wasnt bad. After I was done the teacher made them stand up and they werent allowed to sit down until after asking me a question. The students were very shy and took a long time to ask a question. They would rather be the last person standing with nothing to say than the first person to ask a queston, but when they finally started asking me, I got questions like "What are you crazy about?" and "Where do you want to visit in Japan?" but my favorite question was, "Why did you pick your husband?" =) My students never fail to make me smile! So that was it for Tuesday. The rest of the day was creating lesson plans for the rest of the week.... or failing to do so actually because the other alt I work with (David) is a procrastinator and to be honest Im not a fan of his. His is from Texas, which is the first strike in my book, and he walks around like he is better than everyone else. He is very arrogant, and I speak with him as little as possible. He talks to the students in ways that they dont understand. Just because they are high school students doesnt mean that their english is high school level like we would think of it back home. He uses big words, and speaks really fast.

Today I had 2 classes of Speaking and listening. The first class there were about 20 students in it, and the second one there were 9. For the first class we divided the studentds in half and David and I each took half. Then we interviewed the students, getting to know them, asking them questions and them asking us questions. We were evaluating their level of speaking english which I would have to say is quite well! After about 15 minutes with the first group, we switched groups so we could get to know the entire class. Since there were only 9 students in the second class, we did 5 minute one on one interviews with each student. A popular question I was asked between both classes was "Do you have a boyfriend?" When I would explain that I have a husband, I am Married they would cheer and clap! Then from there they were very interested in Justin and insisted that I bring pictures of him to our next class meeting. Again I got funny questions about Justin like "Is he handsome?", "Do you love him?". and "Is he cool?" All in all my students are pretty awesome and I think Im really going to enjoy teaching them! One girl told me that I am pretty, and another girl came up to me in the cafeteria during lunch to talk to me. =) Im glad that they are warming up to me!

Alright well this is a long post and I need to finish my dinner and get home! Goodnight =)

1st Day of School

Hey guys! Im going to be really quick because I am at an internet cafe right now cuz the internet wasnt working on base, plus its getting late here and Im tired. Anyways today was the first day of school! Right at 8:30 I had to go to the staff room for a meeting. It was during this time that I had to introduce myself to all the staff members at the school. It was really brief. I just told them my name, where I am from, how old I am, how long I have been living in Japan (2 weeks already can you believe it?!) and where in Japan I live. I also told them how excited I am to be working at their school. That was it, the rest of the meeting was in Japanese so I have no idea what they said. Then at 9:30 there was a earthquake evacuation drill and we had to go outside onto the track and field. I didnt know that during that time I would be introducing myself to the whole school! So I had to stand on this little tiny platform in the heat and give the same speech I gave the teachers, short and to the point. After the drill was over we went back into the school and I learned that everyday when school lets out at 3:25, the students have to clean the school. So during this time, the students were told and shown which part of the school they are responsible for cleaning. I have to oversee that the students clean what they are supposed to, and the section I oversee is one of the girls restrooms. I felt like the evil stepmother in Cinderella as I just stood there and watched these girls clean the restroom, and then when they were done with that they had to scrub the spots on the carpet outside of the restroom. I know kids in America would never even think about cleaning their school. Of course I watched as one girl sat there and scrubbed the same spot on the carpet for 15 minutes, and the 2 girls that sat in the corner and chatted, but I didnt say anything. After practicing the after school cleaning, I went back to my desk and did what I have been doing for the last week... sat at my desk and pretended to look busy. When Justin called I snuck off to the bathroom to talk to him, seeing as I had nothing better to do =) Tomorrow I have one class in the morning and all I am doing is introducing myself and showing the class pictures from back home, my family and my hubby! (thanks dad for the pics!) Then the students have testing for the rest of the day tomorrow, so Im assuming thats when the other assistant language teacher and I can get together and start some lesson planning. All of the students at my school are really nice. They smile at me when we pass each other in the hall, or say hello to me in either English or Japanese, and wave to me if they see me from a distance. Well I better get going. Its getting late and I have a mircowave to carry up 204 stairs...

Much love!! <3