RIP George Carlin

I cant believe George Carlin died! He was only 71 and news said he had heart pains and then died. He preformed last week in Las Vegas, wouldn't it have been nice to have been one of the last people to see him preform.

I think George is one of the funniest people ever!! He jokes about things people never want to talk about but he does it in a funny sarcastic way. I love it! His bit on Religion and his bit on the Words You Cant Say On TV are my two favorites.

I think he got better with age and he has one of those expressive faces you cant get out of your head! Very sad that he died. May he rest in ... well... wherever he is...

A tribute... take a look if you have never seen him preform before

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o&feature=related

Novocained again

The sounds of grinders, the smell of tooth particles, the white scrubs and face masks.... ahhh gotta love the dentist... or not.

Yes I went to the dentist today.

I'm so apprehensive about going to the dentist here in Japan. Every time I go they find something else "wrong" with my teeth and want to grind, drill or poke my teeth. I always end up going home with a numb mouth from the excessive use of Novocaine.

The worst part is the language barrier. I'm learning that most dental people don't speak very good English, if any at all. I always ask Chikako to go with me to the dentist because there is always something that they are trying to explain to me that I just don't get. And when it comes to the dentist its important to know what they are doing while your mouth is spread submissively open while tools are jammed in and out. Its scary not understanding why they have blood on the tools and whats going on.

I went for a check up today because I will be moving back to America shortly and be without good insurance for a while. Of course I went in for a check up, but came out numbed on the right side. They found that one of my cavities have grown bigger and we decided to take it out now while I have insurance and I'm not in pain.

One thing I will never get: I'm a tooth brushing addict! I must brush my teeth at least twice a day! I cant sleep with a dirty mouth and I'm too self conscious to leave the house with bad breath so I always brush in the morning and at night. But some how. Some how. I get cavities. Other people who never brush and love sweets never seem to get them, but me... oh me... I get them!

4th Annual Sports Day

Yesterday was my 4th annual sports day. Its funny how quickly the years go, I cant believe it was my 4th!

The first year I participated in sports day I had just arrived in Japan and had no idea what a sports day was. I didn't understand Japanese and the kids hardly knew me. I was of little help! I took a video that year and lot of pictures because I remember thinking how cool, new and exciting this wonderful cultural event was.

What is sports day you ask?

Its a day full of running, games and exercise where parents either participated or sit on the sidelines watching and cheering. There are two teams, a red and a white. I still have no understanding of the scoring, but one team gets first and one gets second (no winners and no losers). Kindergarten students do dancing, running, special relays with parents and other things. The events are usually very creative! Apparently every school (kindergarten through high school) has one sports day every year.

My boss Tomohide anouncing

The score keepers

Game time

Relay with parents

This year was a challenge. After four years the teachers have decided that I can do more things (and my Japanese is good enough to know when they are telling me to do something). This year I was in charge of watching the students who don't behave. I'm the biggest teacher beside the new men teachers so if a child needs to be handled they send me in (mostly because I cant understand their complains and cries so I just make them do whatever it is that they are supposed to do). Takaki is a 3 year old boy who just doesn't get things yet. He is way behind the others and lacks many communicative skills, but for some reason LOVES English. He has no idea what he is saying, but he knows I only know English. He will want more food at lunch but comes up to me and says "How are you?" thinking that I will give him more food. It makes me laugh. I was also asked to watch classes, participate in events and dance.

Takaki

Something interesting: In America when we have school events maybe one parent will go and watch and many times a child will have NO parent to come and support them. But here in Japan its a different story! Each child has both parents, grandparents, sometimes aunts and uncles come to events such as sports day to cheer on the little ones! It amazes me the family support that they have here!

After sports day all the teachers and PTA members that have worked hard to make sports day successful, get together for a dinner/drink party! Always the same parents are there which is good because its easier to get to know them (and remember their names!). After we eat we always go to Karaoke and sing and drink some more. Some parents are real characters!

Chie and I

After Sports Day Dinner Party

All in all, sports day was a big success. I was sad at the end of the night thinking about how it will be my last, but feeling lucky that I have had the opportunity to have been to four of them.

Another great day!

I had another great today. Woke up early at around 7am to go to Yonezawa and get my hair cut with Monique at our friends house. Her ex-boyfriend used to work at a hair salon but is now freelance, so he offered to cut our hair for cheap. Strange part was that our friend wasn't there at her house while we were. Strange....

The hairdresser, Umtesu, was funny. Speaks very very very little English, but seemed very out going and tried hard to communicate. However, I didn't help anything. I didn't slow down or use what Japanese I know.. i just kind of rambled on... haha... sorry Umetsu! It was so friggin hot!!!!! Especially inside with NO AC and just a small fan. He did a great job cutting my hair and Moniques flaming red hair looks awesome! If I were to get my hair done in Japan again I would go to him!

After that Monique and I ate some lunch, then went to Saty so I could buy some new sunglasses. And of course, we did puri kura.

We had some free time before we were supposed to meet up with JD and Maggy, who were coming from a day in Yamagata, for dinner in Nagai. So we stopped at a Park and Temple in Kawanishi. We took lots of pictures and I played at the playground! I even saw some Japanese shit!!! (LOL)

Finally we met JD and Maggy for dinner and ate and chatted about our day! It was really nice! I hope all the rest of my days in Japan are this great!

Thanks Monique!!

Out-of-towners, the real gaijin

Chryssy's friends from California (I believe they all went to UCIrvine) came to Japan for a visit and I broke my "No going out on weekdays" rule to meet them. Christina, Urchna and Jasmine were three of the nicest people I have met in a long time. I'm glad I had the pleasure of hanging out with them for a few hours. They only had a few nights here in the country-side before moving on to the bigger badder cities with more exciting things to do than sing karaoke.

They all went to dinner with Chryssy's friends at Waraku and apparently they had a difficult time ordering (I know how that feels). Then they went to Karaoke at Karapara where I met up with them. They were already warmed up and singing beautifully from the tops of their lungs!! Lots of songs were sung and every one participated.

I was happy that Takako joined us and it was nice to finally meet Tom whom Ive heard so much about (a lot younger and better looking than JD or Chryssy ever mentioned). JD finally got to use an Umbrella as a prop while Urchna and Chryssy sang Rhiana. They all had to suffer though my Going Back to Cali rap song. And Maggy bolted out Incomplete one more time!

I'm so glad that I broke my no going out rule because I had a great time! I wish the ladies safe travels on their journeys and through life!

Sewing Project (s) #2

So I had a few things that were just too big and needed to be taken in. About 6 months ago I took them to the Taylor, but he said the material was too difficult and he wouldn't do it in fear of ruining them. One was a pair of black slacks that have slits up the side of the legs and the other was a tan skirt with mesh over the top.

Usually I wouldn't blog about these, but these two items too more time and frustration then the jean skirt last week!!! I mean THEY REALLY WERE DIFFICULT!! The pants didn't come out as nice, but they are cool for the summer so I will keep them. The skirt looks good, which I'm happy about because it took hours and a lot of doing and undoing and redoing.

So here they are (sorry the pics are so bad!)

The pants are on the left with the slit in the side and the skirt on the right.

Had to shorten the skirt from the waste because the material looked so nice on the bottom, boy was that a mistake!! but I put the darts and everything in on the top myself!

Close shot of the slits. I took the pants in from the sides where the slits were... should have done it from the inside because it looks strange because of my lack of sewing skills.

Personal DNA

Very interesting. This was dead on!! Try it!

http://personaldna.com/report.php?k=qnwIusSHFeZxemY-PK-ACCAD-0cc3&u=a0dbdfb1261e

More and More Earthquakes

I'm terrified of earthquakes.

The ground is not supposed to move like that.

They have leveled cities, killed millions and destroyed lives.

Nothing good comes of them.

Yesterday morning we had another big one.

I grew up in southern California off the San Andreas fault line. You'd think I'd have gotten used to them by now, however I don't believe one ever does. I can remember only a hand full of earthquakes over the span of my life time. One of them being a 6.3 in Palm Desert.

My mother had taken my sister and I to Palm Springs (why? I cant remember) and we had stayed the night in a hotel. I remember waking up and freaking out and my mother was too. We jumped out of bed and my mom took me outside yelling at my sister who didn't move a muscle. I remember watching the swimming pool swoosh to almost as high as the second story balcony that we were on. My sister didn't wake. The earthquake slowly came to an ended and all the hotel customers were outside chit chatting about earthquakes. I remember a guy from New York was in the room next to us and he was talking to my mother about how in New York the smaller earthquakes started and built up to the biggest one, but how in Cali they started big and then we had aftershocks. I now have always had a slight fear of moving to the east coast.

A few other consisted of 4.0s and me freaking out while my family ran around trying to make sure I was OK. I panic!!

My first week in Japan I went to Sendai for the weekend. Didn't know a word of Japanese. Got on the train to come back to Nagai ( a feat in itself for me at that time) and was waiting for the train to leave in 15 minutes when all of a sudden.... the train started shaking, the sky scraper buildings started swaying and people started getting panicked. I sat there not knowing what to do. I couldn't panic like I could at home. I could talk to anyone. So I just sat there unsure of so many things. All of a sudden the announcer came on and started to ramble on in Japanese. People started getting off the train and I didn't know what to do. Finally the driver came up and tried in his best English to explain that the train wasn't going to be moving for a few hours and to take the bus. I did and all was well.

Since then I have been in quite a few earthquakes from Tokyo to Nagai.

After the earthquake in China, specialists have been predicting that the Yamagata are of Japan is going to have a huge 7.0 earthquake. And yesterday Sendai had a 6.3 again!

I was on the phone when the earthquake started rocking my apartment back and fourth. My heart started racing and I questioned for a moment if it was an earthquake or the wind. And started telling my mom "I think we're having and earthquake". I sat up in my bed not knowing what to do. The shaking was getting stronger and I was starting to panic. I said very little to my mother, which now that I think about it probably freaked her out a bit. I finally moved into the door way and was trying to figure out if the earthquake was getting worse or better. When my mother asked "Are you OK?" and my reply was "uhhhh........ahhhh." and then the earthquake started slowing when I said "yeah its over... I'm OK....I think." The apartment swayed to a stop and later there were a few aftershocks, but all was well. No damage around here.

So all is safe and sound, however, in the back of my head I'm thinking "Gosh I hope that that theory of a big earthquake to hit Yamagata this summer is just a theory".

A beautiful early summer weekend

After a Saturday night filled with homemade pizza, movies and good friends; Maggy and I decided to spend our Sunday afternoon at the Nagai Iris Park.

We slowly made our way to the park taking in the early summer sun. The day was too perfect to describe, blue skies with few puffy white clouds and a warm sun with a cool breeze. The park is only about a quarter full, but it was such a great day it was the furthest thing from a waste. There were some entertainers with a monkey that we watched intently for a while. The monkey was such a pain and enjoyed eating the rocks rather than performing. Maggy and I decided to stop for Shaved Ice and sat enjoying the family-like atmosphere. After we took a few pictures and chatted with a few people we made our way back to my apartment trying to take in as much sun as we could.

After Maggy and I made our way back to Yonezawa and did some shopping and ate some yummy American food before meeting up with a bunch others to watch the new Indian Jones. Not the best twist, but enjoyable all the less.

It was a great early summer weekend!

I present to you all -Ryouma Itoh

The Itoh family is awesome! The mother, Junko, is very good at English and tries very hard to get things just right when she speaks. The dad doesn't speak a word of English but has as much energy as a 5 year old which is good because they just had their 3rd boy!! The two older boys have been students of mine for years! So, of course, when they had a new addition to the family I just had to meet him!!!


His name is Ryouma and he is about 3 months old and the best baby ever!! I have high hopes for his English skills, especially since when he comes with his grandmother to pick up his brothers from English school I sit and talk to him avidly in English as if he could understand me!

Sewing Project #1

So I accidentally bought these jeans that aren't the right size. I tried to pawn them off on Monique, but she handed them right back. They were brand new, so I didn't want to throw them away! So I decided that I would make them into something.

This week I borrowed my bosses Sewing Machine. He had offered it to me before and this time I took it. He brought it over and when we opened it there was still Styrofoam in the box, a directional video wrapped in plastic and the chord still wound up neatly. ITS NEVER BEEN USED!! Poor, poor neglected sewing machine- I will use you!!!

I watched the directional video in Japanese, good thing I already know a bit about sewing or else I would have been in trouble. Got everything set up, did some practice things on scrap fabric and then went to work.

This is what Sewing Project #1 came out as:




The skirt looks better on! (I haven't quite mastered the art of taking pictures of myself.)

Hmmm... what will be Sewing Project #2... dum dum dum......

Boxed, Taped and Sent

The boxes are packed and sent! Most of my stuff is out of my apartment and I feel as if I have de-characterized it. The walls are white, no pictures, no cute little knick-nacks, just the necessities are left.

Everyone keeps telling me I sent things too early, but the cheapest way to send it all takes 2 months!!! So my boxes will arrive in California about the same time I do.

There were a total of 15 boxes that I wanted to send full of clothing, DVDs, Books, Arts and Crafts stuff, pillows, blankets, electronics... oh you name it and it was probably in one of my boxes! I collected so much stuff over 3 years! Its amazing! And of course, I couldn't live without any of it!!

Yoshi and I did research (please see previous blogs) and found out that it was cheaper to send big, heavy boxes than it was to send all of them separate. So, being the rule benders we are, we took 3-6 boxes and taped them together with massive heavy duty tape and then tied nylon string around them. Each one weighed between 21-30kilos!! Not so heavy, but they were so big, they were almost impossible for one person to carry!!!!

In the end to send all of the boxes it ended up costing be about 50,000 yen (about $500) to send it all home, not too bad actually!! I'm very impressed!! So now all I have left to do is weed out the rest of the stuff that is unnecessary over the next 8 weeks so everything will fit into 2 suitcases and 2 carry ons!

GANBATE!!! (good luck to me!)

Is it Yu or Yuu?

When I first arrived in Japan I could hardly pronounce names and words, let alone spell them! If someone wrote or spelled it one way, then that's the way I wrote or spelled it without question.

However things written in Romanji are a bit challenging to read. Mostly due to the fact that Japanese pronounce things differently and their alphabet has two letters per character, where as ours has one letter per character. For example: our alphabet it A B C D... and theirs is Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko... and so on and so forth.

After having studied a bit of Japanese and learned how spell things using Japanese characters, I have gotten an idea of how to translate things from Japanese characters to Romanji, but the challenge is that Romanji is for foreigners, so, do we write it the way a foreigner would pronounce it or the way a Japanese person would pronounce it (i.e. Katakana English or English English)?

Here are some examples, these are names I always question:

Yuu or Yu
Shouhei or Shohei
Soushi or Soshi
Ryouma or Ryoma or Rioma
Kyou or Kyo or Kio
Itoh or Ito
Oh or O

AHHH!! It drives me crazy. Usually it really wouldn't make much of a difference pronunciation wise, but when you are teaching a child to write their name in English for the very first time you want them to be able to learn to write it correctly. It would suck if after 5 years of writing your name "O", a teacher or the government would tell you you were wrong and that you should have been writing it "Oh".

Ah, the challenges of living in Japan! Simple, but frustrating!

I love blogging about weather

I love the heat, recently the temperatures have been perfect for me, however I cringe knowing that this is nothing compared to the months to come! So if June is in the 30s, then July will be in the high 20's/low 30's and pouring rain, which means August will be friggin 35 with unbelievable humidity. That kind of humidity where it radiates off the asphalt and you cant sleep or move without sweat seeping from your pours!! I think its the humidity that gets me, don't mind the high numbers, just the percentages. I guess that's another plus on the side of moving the first week of August ... good bye Japanese crazy humidity and hello California dry heat!!

Bowling website

YAY! We made it onto the bowling website! 18 gaijin for a bowling birthday bash... of course we made news! hehe! Check it out

http://samidare.jp/bowling515/

I give up. Im done.

I don't see things in black and white. I'm not a yes or no person. I don't believe you must either hate or love something.

I see things in hues of grey. I'm a yes, but or a no, because person. I believe people have mixed feelings about things.

I don't make my friends choose between people. There are no sides!! Its "this is how I feel", make your own decisions, but if you want to know why I feel that way - ask and I will tell. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to make you all feel the same way I do. I'm not going to talk bad about you every time someone mentions you. I'm not going to bring down a party or feel self pity because people are talking to you more than me. I'm not going to Not invite people because they hang out with you more often.

Actually if I dislike you I will first A) try to tell you how I feel, B) watch to see how you react, C) try to move on hoping that by telling you how I feel you will try to (not change!) but be courteous of my feelings the way I am about yours, D) Start distancing myself from you because I don't want to be around you or don't have anything nice to say, E) completely cut my self off from you.

I am a venting, honest and blunt person. If people ask why I am doing the above things I will tell them. If they feel differently and want to hang out with you... then good! Just because I feel a certain way doesn't mean everyone else has to. I wont get jealous or angry or feel self pity. I will be happy that my friends have their own feelings and I will support them.

Why am I lecturing about this??

There is a person that I feel does these things. And because they do it, they assume I'm doing it too, but I'm not. I haven't intentionally not invited them somewhere and when something has happened and they haven't been there I felt bad or suggested we should have at least invited them. When I haven't invited them it was due to the fact I knew they had other plans. I haven't said rude things in hope others "sided" with me, I simply told them how I felt and why.

However, I do feel bad because after I mentioned the way I felt, some others started to feel the same way. I felt like they all started to want to talk about how they felt too. That isn't cool, a gang up kind of thing. I don't think anyone intended on it feeling like that, but I can see how outsiders might think it appears that way. I believe we all have our own issues with the individual and it revolves around the same basic underlying 2 issues - "Selfishness -in the way that they don't think about how their actions affect others" and "constantly having to walk on egg shells for them when they stomp all over yours."

We do those two things all the time. All of us!! We aren't perfect! I'M FAR FROM PERFECT!! I'm stubborn, loud, too straight-forward, harsh and sound conceded from time to time. I like peoples imperfectness, actually I really enjoy this individuals uniquenesses; they are so care free, have a hippy-love to them; when they smile and do goofy things they light up the room.. I'm jealous of their quirkiness's!

But when you approach someone and tell them that how they are acting hurts your feelings and that you feel that they are "choosing" others over you and that they don't seem to care that their actions affect others. And they get upset and start a fight about other petty things and tell you that you hurt their feelings immensely and that you owe them an apology... its just too much for me. Too much drama, too much he said she said, its too much!!!.... It has made me give up on that individual. It pains me to say that. It pains me to have lost such a great individual in my life, but after weighing the events and time and energy... I give up.

I have decided not to invite them anywhere anymore. I have decided to delete any comments they make or emails they send. No more answering the phone for them to start a fight. No more worrying about if I'm hurting their feelings or not.... this time I really am done.

Sadly, sadly enough.

Go! Go! Good Job! Run! Youre ALMOST there!

So Monique and I being the not-so active great selves we are, decided to go with JoeyD to support him on his 5k run! Its nice when your friends go places to support you! Makes you feel motivated and loved. (just don't tell him we did it to see the hot Japanese boys run in shorts and possibly with no shirts)

Monique got up at 5am! And I got up around 5:30 am to meet at my apartment and head out! I made onigiri and some tea for us to take so that JD was pumped full of caffeine and carbs (and I didn't starve). We left my apartment at 6:15am and headed out to Higashine. Took about one hour and a half before we hit all kinds of traffic. Traffic was at a stand still... so much so that JoeyD got out of his car and ran into the convini to go pee and the car still hadn't moved far enough for him to have to "catch up". We arrived a little before 9am and got JoeyDs free t-shirt and prepared him to run! We ran into Nathaniel and eventually JD found Audrey and they took off down the street with the mobs of people to run 5k! We cheered him and Audrey on and Nathaniel (who was running a half marathon!! SUGOI!!). JD crossed the finish line and came to find Monique and I sitting on the side of the road checking out shirt-less hot Japanese runners! He cooled down and then we headed to the car cheering people on the whole way. The 21kers were coming around the final stretch and the roads were cut off so we couldn't get out so we CHEERED AND CHEERED! Monique yelled things like "nice package! NICE LEGS! and SEXY" While loud-ass me Screamed "GO GO GOOD JOB!! GANABRE! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!!". We got quite a reactions from those around us and those running. Seemed as if we actually helped motivate people because some sped up after our cheering! We saw Nathaniel and cheered for him too!!

We were exhausted by the time we got home, but JD did good and Monique and I were there to prove it!! 10k next time JD??

JoeyD's Not-so surprise, but great, Birthday Party

I spent 2 weeks planning a surprise birthday party for JoeyD. Everyone was great and participated not spilling the beans and making sure to tell him they were all busy so he had no plans. We decided to go Bowling and Karaoke. Monique helped me with ideas and planning and things were all worked out. Until the day of....

I didn't want to sound too eager about him hanging out with me in fear that he would become suspicious, so in the middle of the week I asked him to go with me to Yonezawa to "pick something up" and "hang out", maybe bowling, darts or a movie. He ended up calling his usually climbing partners and asked them to go climbing before he hung out with me. Plan was to go at 2 and be back around 4 so that we could go back out. (didn't occur to me that he was planning on going to Yonezawa and then back here and then back to Yonezawa... as someone pointed out, pointless and a waste of gas). But by the time I found out he was going climbing I didn't want to change our plans because I thought he would become suspicious (or left out) as to why everyone was busy and then all of a sudden I changed our plans. One of his climbing buddies mailed me the morning of the party when everything was worked out and demanded that they would arrive at the party with him and that we should do things their way. I was pretty upset because I had planned everything and thought it all out.... all the way down to asking him to hang out and pick something up. It was no easy task. I did end up calling JoeyD and telling him he didn't have to come back to Nagai for me and he said it was no problem that he had already planned on it and was going to freshen up at home anyways. So this was what was happening. JD was going climbing at 2ish and then coming back and picking me up to hang out at 5pm.

At 4:30 I got a call from JD (who thought we were just hanging out so time wasn't so important.... cant blame him for that, usually it wouldn't have been a big deal), said he couldn't leave Yonezawa to come back to Nagai until 4:45/5:00. He had no idea that at 5pm 15-20 of his friends were gathering down the street from the climbing wall to surprise him for his birthday. I told him Id call him back and did some calling around to see if I could get a ride to Yonezawa so no one had to go an hour and half out of their way to get me and so that the party could start on time and go as planned. I found out that the climbing buddy who was making a big deal that morning was late an hour to climbing and then didn't bother to hurry JoeyD out of the climbing place to get back on time.

side note: if you or a friend of yours had to be somewhere and they didn't know it because it was a surprise I would do ALL in my power to make sure they made it on time. Even if it meant sacrificing my plans or my timing. I would make up and excuse as to why wed have to leave early or I would "highly suggest" they leave on time to meet someone... Id do something!! That's the kind of person I am! (even if I hate the person throwing the party or the birthday person).

Everyone else was on time and had already arrived in Yonezawa and I didn't want them being late for the sake of picking me up and I didn't want JoeyD late for his own surprise party! So I told him I'd hang out at home and not to hurry back for me. At the same time I called Chryssy and Monique and told them I wasn't going to go and to make sure that JoeyD made it to the right place at the right time for his surprise. To me- it was MORE important that the Birthday Boy get his big surprise then it was for one person (even me) to not be able to go. I was so upset that the person who demanded to change things was not being any help and virtually sabotaging the party because they were pissed at me. (PETTY!) I later found out that they tried to pick a fight with JoeyD that day over hanging out with me and not inviting them, told JoeyD they should go to dinner after climbing at 5pm and was goofing around instead of leaving the climbing wall on time.

Monique, Maggy and the wonderful others were not ok with the fact that the person who planned the party wasn't coming and demanded I be picked up. I told them it was ok... to go ahead and have a good time. On the phone I was holding back as many tears as I could because I was so upset that I had planned something and had ONE particular person ruin it (same person who tries to change everything to fit their needs or schedule with no thought or respect to others). Monique was upset and called JoeyD and told him everything...what we had been planning how the people he was climbing with should have told him to leave on time... all that jazz. JoeyD was then upset and felt guilty, even though he had no need to be! After getting a phone call from him I looked up train times and decided to go late.

I arrive to find out that they changed the time so that I and others could be there! NOW THOSE ARE GOOD FRIENDS!!!

JoeyD wasn't as surprised as he could have been, but I think he was in shock that there were about 18 people there to help celebrate his JoeyDness!! We had a great time bowling and Monique made a tasty cake and we sang Happy Birthday!!

Id like to take this moment to thank Monique for her awesomeness and her persistence on being a good friend. Maggy for her kind heart. Takako for making sure I was ok. And to Fumi who picked me up from the train station! You all rock and are all in my heart!

Packing some more

So I managed to get most of the things I want to keep packed up this week..... came out to 14 boxes!!!! Some were very mall but heavy and some were large and light. So Yoshi helped me do some research on how much its gonna cost me came out to about this:

2 KiloBox: 3,000yen

5 kilo box: 4,500yen

10 kilo box: 6,500yen

20 kilo box: 10,000yen

30 kilo box (but perimeter size must not be over 3 meters): 13,000Yen

14 individual boxes were going to be very expensive!!! So Yoshi, whom I have come to learn is a bit of a rule bender, came up with the idea to tape my boxes together to make a few big boxes that are 30kilos instead of sending 14 different sized and weight boxes. Ended up making my 14 boxes into 3 huge boxes!! Chikako and Yoshi came to my apartment and weighed each box and stacked them to get them all around 30kilos and under 3meters in peramiter. They are amazing! Got them all piled together now just need to figure out how wrap them together and get them to the post office... Yoshi offered to help me do this next week.

Cleaning things out means lots of garbage!! I spent an hour yesterday peeling lables, crushing bottles and sorting things into the appropriate bags!! Had things like shoes, luggage and all kinds of other things to throw out!

So now this is what my apartment basically looks like:

Packing it up

Packing it ALL up!! AHHH!!!!! What work! Remind me again why I have all this crap in Japan??

So I have been spending the week sorting, bubble wrapping and boxing! I have about 10 boxes ready to go and cringe every times I see them knowing that its going to cost me a small fortune to send them all. And sadly... I MUST keep them and send them!! I get attached to my "things"...terrible .. I KNOW!!

I did make piles:

- Lesley School
-Kindergarten
-Garbage
-Give to Friends
-Sell

The last one is giving me a hard time. I want to give things away because I wish someone would have given or left me things when I first moved here; however I bought and paid for everything so why should I just leave it for someone I don't even know!! Then I came to the conclusion that I would just give everything to the wonderful friends I will be leaving behind, but then I was reminded this week about how BROKE I am. Said I should give discounts to friends but still ask for a little something and that they would understand because they know I'm broke. But I cant!! I'm wayyy too nice!

So if you come to my apartment this week please don't be surprised to find my apartment not only bare, but also a disaster zone!!

A Teaching Idea for Teachers

I know a lot of English teacher read my blog, therefore I am posting this because I feel as if it was a very good activity. Its best one on one or in small groups where you can pair them off. You could use it in English club or really good for private English schools or just for fun!!

I have two high school girls whose English levels are impressive, however I find that they have a hard time telling things specifically or giving good directions so that others might understand them. I remembered a game that my sister and I used to play and I tried it.

I had the two girls sit back to back. Y was facing the white board and R was facing the opposite way with a paper and pencil in hand. I drew a simple picture on the board; for example, a flower. Then Y had to tell, in detail, how R was to draw this picture without saying what it was.

A good example: draw a medium sized circle in on your paper. Then touch one outside point of your circle and draw upward a semi-circle until it touches the circle edge again. Keep doing this until you run out of space on the circles edge.

Then they switched chairs and I drew something different. Some things I drew were a star, a heart, a rabbit, a cat.... simple kid style drawings that had odd shapes in them. The more they did the more challenging the pictures became. They laughed so hard at some of the end results that looked nothing like what I drew.

You would be surprised how much this information gets misinterpreted. It was hysterical to see what they would come up with. I wish I would have taken pictures for you all.

Try it and let me know how it worked for you!

Totally awsome 80s party

For the first time in my life I have met people that are as excited as I am to dress up and have theme parties. Before it was only once a year I got to pick out strange outfits and pack on the make up using the creativity that burns from with in, but since I have met the JET/ALTs in Yamagata I have been able to do on a regular basis and it rocks!!!

Monique hosted a wonderful 80s party at her humble abode! She decorated in bright colors, tons of photos and 80s memorabilia. She compiled an awesome list of 80s must have music and provided more food than I have seen in a very long time! It was awesome! She did an amazing job!!

We all had a blast reminiscing all the great 80s tv shows, cartoons, music and movies! We drank, danced and ate all night long! Here are some great moments....

Chris as Tina Turner

The ladies get into the 80s

JD shows off his Rubix cube and Rebecca remembers what she looked like when she was younger.

Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy Dance

Karate kid gets his fight scene

Blog Sensorship

What is the purpose of a blog??

Well to be honest everyone keeps a blog for different reasons.

-a diary account of something that's going on in their lives
-to keep in touch with people far from them
-for business or interest,t notes, stories or findings
-a way to vent or to write how they feel and why they believe they feel that way

No matter why someone write a blog, the fact still remains that it is an account of ones feelings an opinions about a certain topic, event or personal reasons.

Recently I have gotten really into the whole blogging thing, as my avid readers should have noticed. Not only do I post blogs but I now read blogs written by others. When I read a blog I know that this is his/her opinion and/or how they are feeling at that moment. I know that we all have waves of feelings- some days we feel down and sad and pity ourselves, some days we are angry and want to rant and yell at someone, some days we are so happy and want to tell the world about great things. And how and/or what we write in our blogs reflects our feelings that particular day. If you ask me how I feel about a touchy subject today and then ask me again the next, chances are my emotions will lead me to answer differently. I understand that and I expect others to understand that as well.

Why am I lecturing about blogging and feelings??

Well recently a friend of mine has been having a difficult time with another friend and has been voicing their rants and opinions on their blog. (something I personally do all the time, that's why I write a blog, more to rant than for others to read state their opinions) Other have commented or said that their blog is mean, rude, one-sided.... HELLO!!! Of course it is!!! ITS THEIR BLOG!! If you don't like what they have to say then don't read it!!!!!!!!!!

You are not forced to read my blog or anyone else's! So if you don't like what I or anyone else has to say then don't read their blog! Why should I have to sensor my blogs (my feelings, my opinions, my beliefs) for other people??