Angela, Sanae and I on the ferry ride over to Monkey Island
Angela, Mikyoung and I on the ferry ride over to the Island
Angela and I on one of the paths
An interesting lizard on the Island
Sanae, Mikyoung, Me and Angela
Sunday, October 5, 2008
"Sarushima" or Monkey Island
Today I went to Sarushima, or Monkey Island as it translates in English. No they arent any actual monkeys on the island. It used to be used for the military or something like that. I went with my realtor Sanae, her Korean friend Mikyoung and a lieutenant who works at the Naval hospital on base. Sanae said that the island used to have cannons and stuff on it when the military used it. Now people just use it as an island to have BBQ's and beach parties. Its a very small island with not much to do on it, except like I said, BBQ. We didnt do that today though. You have to take a 10 minute ferry ride to get to the island. The island is really close to base, you can actually see it from some parts of base. When we got there we just explored the island and followed along on some trails. I dont have my camera with me, Justin took it with him on his underway, so all the pictures were taken from Sanae's camera and she emailed me a few which I will post on here. After we visited Monkey Island, Sanae and her friend wanted to go on base and go shopping at the NEX. So we grabbed some lunch, did a little shopping and wrapped up our day. It wasnt an exciting and eventful day, but it was a new experience, and now Im one day closer to Justin coming home! Yay! He hasnt been able to call for the past few days because the phones have been down on the ship. They were pretty much turned off the day after they left Yoko, because they are really close to the next port they are pulling in to, which is tomorrow I think. Anyways, Justin said they are at alert 5, and to keep it vague and simple everything on the ship is loaded and ready to go. I hope when they pull into port tomorrow that he can find an internet cafe, or at least be able to use his cell phone! We have been able to email which has been good, but its just not the same as hearing his voice. Oh well, anyways here are some pics from today.
Angela, Sanae and I on the ferry ride over to Monkey Island
Angela, Mikyoung and I on the ferry ride over to the Island
Angela and I on one of the paths
An interesting lizard on the Island
Sanae, Mikyoung, Me and Angela
Angela, Sanae and I on the ferry ride over to Monkey Island
Angela, Mikyoung and I on the ferry ride over to the Island
Angela and I on one of the paths
An interesting lizard on the Island
Sanae, Mikyoung, Me and Angela
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Justin
So I haven’t posted in a while, mainly because Justin was here for such a short period of time and I wanted to spend the few days we had together hanging out rather than in front of the computer. I know many of you are wondering what Justin thought about the apartment, and our walk home and stuff, so I thought Id post not only about our week spent together, but also about my amazing husband.
His ship pulled in on Thursday around 10 am and I was stuck at work!! I knew that his ship pulling in was going to be a big event on base, not only because of the Homecoming, but also because this is the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier to ever be stationed overseas. Not only was it a big event on base, it was a big event out in town with huge protests going on. Justin said as they were pulling in that there were about 12 helicopters overhead, both news helicopters and also for security purposes. He said that there were boats out in the water with people screaming “No CVN73! You bombed Hiroshima! You killed our people! Go home George Washington!” During the week I had seen several signs outside of base saying “No CVN73, NO WAR.” I guess what they don’t understand is that the ship is nuclear powered, and they associate the word nuclear with nuclear war. They are also concerned with a nuclear powered ship being so close to such a huge city like Tokyo, that if something were to happen to one of the nuclear reactors, a lot of people would be hurt. I understand their concern, but my husband lives on those nuclear reactors, so I don’t want to hear them complaining!!! Anyways, Thursday was a long day at work to say the least. I was going crazy, counting down the hours until I would finally be with Justin again! The day dragged on, and when I say dragged I mean draaaaaagged and finally when 4:30 came around I ran to that train station faster than I have ever run in my life. When I got there, Justin was there waiting for me. It was so good to finally be with him again. So we hopped on the next train and headed to our home, together at last. I have to admit, it was kind of funny knowing that Justin has lived in Japan for 2 years, but had no idea where we were going or how to get home. We exited at our station and started on our walk towards home. As we were walking down the road I was pointing out the various stores to Justin such as the flower shop (hint, hint) ;), the 100yen store (which is like the dollar store), the Lawson store (which is a convenience store) and the 711. When we got to the street we turn up to go home, I pointed out a few points of reference so Justin would remember which street it is that we turn at. Right as we rounded the corner, those dreadful stairs came into view. At the sight of the stairs, Justin began to walk a little slower, as if pacing himself for what was about to come. We began up the first set of stairs, and Justin did surprisingly well! He was a lot quicker up the stairs than I thought he was going to be, seabag and all! I think I was the slow poke between the 2 of us, and I’ve been walking those stairs for 5 weeks now! Let me also mention that they aren’t your normal set of stairs, its all up hill, and its not a gradual up hill, its straight up 204 stairs up hill. We finished the first set of stairs and I said to Justin “Tired yet, cuz that was only 100 of em.” He just looked at me like are you freaking serious????, but carried on and only complained a few times. I think he said something along the lines of I picked an apartment in the worst place possible or something like that. Haha anyways, so we finally made it home and Justin dropped his things and took a quick tour of the apartment, checking to see what was behind each door. When he was done he said to me “You made it look a lot bigger in the pictures.” I was surprised he said that!! For a place in Japan, our apartment is huge, and for just the two of us I think it’s just the right size. I mean we have a second bedroom that we have no idea what to do with! Anyways, after Justin had seen our place, and knew how to get home, we decided to go out to dinner in Yokosuka and also get him a cell phone. We did the cell phone first and while we were in the store there were huge protests going on outside. There were tons of police, and the roads were blocked off, and there were more people crowding the streets than cars. People were holding signs and banners and waving flags, and were following a car that was screaming into a megaphone. Everything was in Japanese, so I’m not sure what they were saying or what their signs said, but I know it wasn’t anything good about CVN73. After we finished at the cell phone place we decided to go to TGI Fridays for dinner, and after that stopped by The Honch (a street with a bunch of bars and restaurants) to see if any of his friends were out. We headed back home pretty early because Justin was tired, and I had to work the next day.
On Friday I went to work and Justin hung out around the house and ran a few errands. While Justin was out, he decided to go grocery shopping, and I don’t think he thought about that walk home while he was doing his shopping. Silly boy. I called him on my break and he answered the phone completely out of breath and I didn’t even have to ask what he was doing, I already knew. He said he was carrying 12 grocery bags up the stairs. I couldn’t help but laugh because I thought of everything I’ve had to carry home before (*cough cough* a microwave). It was kind of cute to hear him struggling home. After all, this is going to be our life for the next 6 months so he better get used to it! Anyways, my school was having a party for me and David that night so I wasn’t going to be home until around 9pm. Justin decided to meet me at my school because I had nothing to do from 430 (when I got off work) until 6 (when the party started). He met me outside my school at 430 and I asked him if he wanted to see what my school looks like inside. He did, so I took him inside, and showed him where my office is. He met a few of my teachers. When I introduced him to one of my teachers she said something like “You know, I have work with 8 ALT’s (assistant language teachers = me) before, and Kristen is the best one I’ve ever worked with.” I was so surprised and shocked to hear that! It made me feel really good. When we left my school, Justin said “I wish I went to a high school that was as nice as that one.” So we hung around Kurihama for a few hours, and then I went to my party and Justin headed home to prepare some surprise he had planned for me. He had told me beforehand not to get full at my party, so I figured his surprise had something to do with cooking me dinner. My party was a lot of fun. It was at a Japanese restaurant in Kurihama. It was basically all you can eat and all you can drink. They started out by pouring everyone a glass of beer (I know weird right? We usually just drink from the bottle!) and I’m not even kidding you, the second you took a sip, or your glass looked the slightest bit empty they were right there filling it up for you again. The food was good, but I ate very little because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise Justin has planned. At the dinner they had asked David and I to give a speech. In my speech I told them how I’ve always known I’ve wanted to come back to Japan since the very first time I came to visit Justin here and I noticed how nice the people were. I told them that they have proved that to be even more true in the last few weeks working with them and their students and by having this party for us tonight. I also told them about the comment Justin made about how nice of a school they have and how he wished he went to a high school as nice as theirs, and I ended by saying how thankful I am to be at such a great school and am really looking forward to the school year. The party ended around 8 and I hurried to the station to get home for my surprise. When I got home, Justin opened the door for me and told me to close my eyes, when I opened them, I was standing in a living room full of roses and rose petals, lit only by candles. On the coffee table were two plates of chicken alfredo, salad and 2 glasses of wine. It was honestly the nicest and sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. My husband is truly amazing.
For the rest of the weekend we pretty much slept in and lounged around. We ran a few errands on base, and had a few of his friends over for dinner on Sunday. I got to go on the GW (george washington) for a short period of time because we went to pick up the awesome boxes of stuff my mom sent us! Nothing really exciting happened on Monday or Tuesday. Justin picked me up from school again on Monday, and this time had the pleasure of meeting David. On Tuesday Justin went back to work, only to find out that he had to sleep on the ship that night because they were pulling out again on Wednesday. I made Justin dinner that night, the only dinner I know how to make and was really nervous that he wasn’t going to like it. After all it’s not a manly meal of steak and potatoes, its seasoned ground turkey, white rice and corn. Justin loved it though, and even requested that I make it for dinner the first night when he gets back! When it was finally time for him to go, we took the train down to Yokosuka and I walked him to his ship. I couldnt believe that it was already time for them to leave again. It felt like he had just gotten here, I blinked my eyes and it was time for him to go again. I stood there in the pouring rain and watched him walk away until I couldn’t see him anymore. I have said goodbye to Justin several times before, and I’ve done my fair share of deployments, but one thing I’ve learned is it doesn’t matter how many deployments you’ve been through, or how short or long each one was, it never gets any easier. The longest I’ve ever been away from Justin is 5 months, and this deployment is only 7 weeks but never had I had to go back to our home alone. Every other time we have said goodbye was because I was here visiting on vacation, and was leaving to go back home to the states. Never have I had to return to our house, with our things, and his stuff and a place were in just a few short days we had created so many memories. It was definitely hard walking into our house and being completely alone again. I was okay before Justin had come because me being alone in the house was all I knew. For 5 weeks it was just me by myself, but in just those few days spent with him home, I had gotten so comfortable, and so used to him being there with me, that our house just doesn’t feel like a home without him there. Those were the first few days that Justin and I have ever spent actually living together, in our own home and let me tell you, they were the best days of my life. I know a lot of people think that we got married too soon, or too young, but I’ve always believed “When you know, you know.” You remember when you were a little kid, and you used to wonder what your husband (wife) was going to look like, or be like? You had this perfect vision of what you wanted him or her to be? I had that vision, and I saw that guy and let me tell you, Justin is not him. Justin is a thousand times better, and so much more than I ever expected “that guy” to be. I have never felt more cared about or loved (except for by my family). He does the littlest things and I bet doesn’t even realize how happy they make me. For example, when he went grocery shopping he bought me fruit cups, because I asked him to? No, because he looked in the pantry and realized I was almost out. He bought me green tea, because I asked him to? No, because he knows that’s my favorite drink and saw that we didn’t have any at home. My husband honestly is the most amazing person I have ever met, and deserves so much more credit than a stupid post on a blog, but I figured it’s the least I can do for him. I’m really not looking forward to the next 7 weeks, but I know what’s going to come after that will be so much worth the wait. I love you Justin and cant wait to have you home again.
His ship pulled in on Thursday around 10 am and I was stuck at work!! I knew that his ship pulling in was going to be a big event on base, not only because of the Homecoming, but also because this is the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier to ever be stationed overseas. Not only was it a big event on base, it was a big event out in town with huge protests going on. Justin said as they were pulling in that there were about 12 helicopters overhead, both news helicopters and also for security purposes. He said that there were boats out in the water with people screaming “No CVN73! You bombed Hiroshima! You killed our people! Go home George Washington!” During the week I had seen several signs outside of base saying “No CVN73, NO WAR.” I guess what they don’t understand is that the ship is nuclear powered, and they associate the word nuclear with nuclear war. They are also concerned with a nuclear powered ship being so close to such a huge city like Tokyo, that if something were to happen to one of the nuclear reactors, a lot of people would be hurt. I understand their concern, but my husband lives on those nuclear reactors, so I don’t want to hear them complaining!!! Anyways, Thursday was a long day at work to say the least. I was going crazy, counting down the hours until I would finally be with Justin again! The day dragged on, and when I say dragged I mean draaaaaagged and finally when 4:30 came around I ran to that train station faster than I have ever run in my life. When I got there, Justin was there waiting for me. It was so good to finally be with him again. So we hopped on the next train and headed to our home, together at last. I have to admit, it was kind of funny knowing that Justin has lived in Japan for 2 years, but had no idea where we were going or how to get home. We exited at our station and started on our walk towards home. As we were walking down the road I was pointing out the various stores to Justin such as the flower shop (hint, hint) ;), the 100yen store (which is like the dollar store), the Lawson store (which is a convenience store) and the 711. When we got to the street we turn up to go home, I pointed out a few points of reference so Justin would remember which street it is that we turn at. Right as we rounded the corner, those dreadful stairs came into view. At the sight of the stairs, Justin began to walk a little slower, as if pacing himself for what was about to come. We began up the first set of stairs, and Justin did surprisingly well! He was a lot quicker up the stairs than I thought he was going to be, seabag and all! I think I was the slow poke between the 2 of us, and I’ve been walking those stairs for 5 weeks now! Let me also mention that they aren’t your normal set of stairs, its all up hill, and its not a gradual up hill, its straight up 204 stairs up hill. We finished the first set of stairs and I said to Justin “Tired yet, cuz that was only 100 of em.” He just looked at me like are you freaking serious????, but carried on and only complained a few times. I think he said something along the lines of I picked an apartment in the worst place possible or something like that. Haha anyways, so we finally made it home and Justin dropped his things and took a quick tour of the apartment, checking to see what was behind each door. When he was done he said to me “You made it look a lot bigger in the pictures.” I was surprised he said that!! For a place in Japan, our apartment is huge, and for just the two of us I think it’s just the right size. I mean we have a second bedroom that we have no idea what to do with! Anyways, after Justin had seen our place, and knew how to get home, we decided to go out to dinner in Yokosuka and also get him a cell phone. We did the cell phone first and while we were in the store there were huge protests going on outside. There were tons of police, and the roads were blocked off, and there were more people crowding the streets than cars. People were holding signs and banners and waving flags, and were following a car that was screaming into a megaphone. Everything was in Japanese, so I’m not sure what they were saying or what their signs said, but I know it wasn’t anything good about CVN73. After we finished at the cell phone place we decided to go to TGI Fridays for dinner, and after that stopped by The Honch (a street with a bunch of bars and restaurants) to see if any of his friends were out. We headed back home pretty early because Justin was tired, and I had to work the next day.
On Friday I went to work and Justin hung out around the house and ran a few errands. While Justin was out, he decided to go grocery shopping, and I don’t think he thought about that walk home while he was doing his shopping. Silly boy. I called him on my break and he answered the phone completely out of breath and I didn’t even have to ask what he was doing, I already knew. He said he was carrying 12 grocery bags up the stairs. I couldn’t help but laugh because I thought of everything I’ve had to carry home before (*cough cough* a microwave). It was kind of cute to hear him struggling home. After all, this is going to be our life for the next 6 months so he better get used to it! Anyways, my school was having a party for me and David that night so I wasn’t going to be home until around 9pm. Justin decided to meet me at my school because I had nothing to do from 430 (when I got off work) until 6 (when the party started). He met me outside my school at 430 and I asked him if he wanted to see what my school looks like inside. He did, so I took him inside, and showed him where my office is. He met a few of my teachers. When I introduced him to one of my teachers she said something like “You know, I have work with 8 ALT’s (assistant language teachers = me) before, and Kristen is the best one I’ve ever worked with.” I was so surprised and shocked to hear that! It made me feel really good. When we left my school, Justin said “I wish I went to a high school that was as nice as that one.” So we hung around Kurihama for a few hours, and then I went to my party and Justin headed home to prepare some surprise he had planned for me. He had told me beforehand not to get full at my party, so I figured his surprise had something to do with cooking me dinner. My party was a lot of fun. It was at a Japanese restaurant in Kurihama. It was basically all you can eat and all you can drink. They started out by pouring everyone a glass of beer (I know weird right? We usually just drink from the bottle!) and I’m not even kidding you, the second you took a sip, or your glass looked the slightest bit empty they were right there filling it up for you again. The food was good, but I ate very little because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise Justin has planned. At the dinner they had asked David and I to give a speech. In my speech I told them how I’ve always known I’ve wanted to come back to Japan since the very first time I came to visit Justin here and I noticed how nice the people were. I told them that they have proved that to be even more true in the last few weeks working with them and their students and by having this party for us tonight. I also told them about the comment Justin made about how nice of a school they have and how he wished he went to a high school as nice as theirs, and I ended by saying how thankful I am to be at such a great school and am really looking forward to the school year. The party ended around 8 and I hurried to the station to get home for my surprise. When I got home, Justin opened the door for me and told me to close my eyes, when I opened them, I was standing in a living room full of roses and rose petals, lit only by candles. On the coffee table were two plates of chicken alfredo, salad and 2 glasses of wine. It was honestly the nicest and sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. My husband is truly amazing.
For the rest of the weekend we pretty much slept in and lounged around. We ran a few errands on base, and had a few of his friends over for dinner on Sunday. I got to go on the GW (george washington) for a short period of time because we went to pick up the awesome boxes of stuff my mom sent us! Nothing really exciting happened on Monday or Tuesday. Justin picked me up from school again on Monday, and this time had the pleasure of meeting David. On Tuesday Justin went back to work, only to find out that he had to sleep on the ship that night because they were pulling out again on Wednesday. I made Justin dinner that night, the only dinner I know how to make and was really nervous that he wasn’t going to like it. After all it’s not a manly meal of steak and potatoes, its seasoned ground turkey, white rice and corn. Justin loved it though, and even requested that I make it for dinner the first night when he gets back! When it was finally time for him to go, we took the train down to Yokosuka and I walked him to his ship. I couldnt believe that it was already time for them to leave again. It felt like he had just gotten here, I blinked my eyes and it was time for him to go again. I stood there in the pouring rain and watched him walk away until I couldn’t see him anymore. I have said goodbye to Justin several times before, and I’ve done my fair share of deployments, but one thing I’ve learned is it doesn’t matter how many deployments you’ve been through, or how short or long each one was, it never gets any easier. The longest I’ve ever been away from Justin is 5 months, and this deployment is only 7 weeks but never had I had to go back to our home alone. Every other time we have said goodbye was because I was here visiting on vacation, and was leaving to go back home to the states. Never have I had to return to our house, with our things, and his stuff and a place were in just a few short days we had created so many memories. It was definitely hard walking into our house and being completely alone again. I was okay before Justin had come because me being alone in the house was all I knew. For 5 weeks it was just me by myself, but in just those few days spent with him home, I had gotten so comfortable, and so used to him being there with me, that our house just doesn’t feel like a home without him there. Those were the first few days that Justin and I have ever spent actually living together, in our own home and let me tell you, they were the best days of my life. I know a lot of people think that we got married too soon, or too young, but I’ve always believed “When you know, you know.” You remember when you were a little kid, and you used to wonder what your husband (wife) was going to look like, or be like? You had this perfect vision of what you wanted him or her to be? I had that vision, and I saw that guy and let me tell you, Justin is not him. Justin is a thousand times better, and so much more than I ever expected “that guy” to be. I have never felt more cared about or loved (except for by my family). He does the littlest things and I bet doesn’t even realize how happy they make me. For example, when he went grocery shopping he bought me fruit cups, because I asked him to? No, because he looked in the pantry and realized I was almost out. He bought me green tea, because I asked him to? No, because he knows that’s my favorite drink and saw that we didn’t have any at home. My husband honestly is the most amazing person I have ever met, and deserves so much more credit than a stupid post on a blog, but I figured it’s the least I can do for him. I’m really not looking forward to the next 7 weeks, but I know what’s going to come after that will be so much worth the wait. I love you Justin and cant wait to have you home again.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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
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
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, September 19, 2008
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
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
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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 (ăăȘă) 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!
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 (ăăȘă) 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!
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