DOB

still alive and kicking in japan! so i left off with tokyo, well afterwards i was beat as we stayed out all night and partyed way too much. On monday it rained all day and I went to Utsumi to teach a couple classes. The bus ride there and back is a bit nuts, I ride it with all the students and they both attempt to talk to me and talk about me in japanese....if only they knew that i can understand most of the things they say! On tuesday I was back at Handa and finished up my lesson on visiting the doctor, which was actually helpful since the temperature dropped suddenly here and most kids are sick with colds. After class I made my way on over to Akaike to visit Maria for dinner-we made some delicious chicken, noodle, pepper thing and watched 27 dresses, a typical girl date night. On wednesday I went to Taketoyo and taught 2 classes-one class was really bright and we played a couple games and I brought candy to bribe them into playing and it worked! I have a tiny crush on this old little senseis there that I teach with haha. After class I had ego conversation to teach to the little ones. For the first class, which is 6 girls around 10, we played candy land...which they loved...as I knew they would. I also enjoyed playing, didnt land on mister plumpy so everything was a-ok! Then for the second class we played one round of candy land and then I taught them some food vocab, they need to get ready for junior high school next year where they will actually begin taking english classes. One of the girls brought me a present--a pencil with stitch on it and a dangling stitch for my keitai, she is so adorable...I bought her a couple stitch things to thank her! After class, Tomei-sensei, the lady who I teach the convo classes with, took me to an Italian restaurant where we had pizza and pasta and raw octopus! which is actually really delicious, i hate to say it but i actually liked it! She also took me to meet her family, I have really found some amazing people here who treat me like their daughter and am so happy I have them. On thursday night I had my enkai, drinking party, that my thurs night english convo class threw for me! We went to this japanese restaurant called surprise and they had a whole menu planned out for me! we started with salad and then came the sashimi, slabs of raw fish...I managed to choke down a few, the salmon i find tasty but the rest is a bit difficult to keep down. Then came the GIANT bowl of fish heads, yes heads of fish with the eyes, the teeth...everything on it. I eventually got past the face and decided to try and it was delicious, no joke! I just kept eating them despite the amazingly disgusting factor of eating around the eyes and such. Then we cooked our own chicken stew-like thing in a pot on the table and ate some odd egg pudding thing, there was way too much food and of course way too much consumption of beer! And i had the worst experience ever in the bathroom...I walked in and the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen was crawling around on the wall and I screamed so loud, ohhhh it was so not cool. That scarred me for life. On friday, as I tried to recover, I went to school and listened to Kawai-sensei's third year class speeches about japanese culture and did some japanese studying. At the end of the day we all went into the gym to listen to the student council presidential candidates speech, he was really nervous and a bit sick...all of a suddent midway through the speech he just fainted and hit the floor and no one went to help him, so he just got back up on his own and continued on with his speech...as I sat in the back of the gym laughing hysterically cuz i just couldnt hold it in. then I went to nihongo class and had some fun, i tried to spice things up a bit by making up weird answers to their question...they were laughing, either at me or with me, either works for me! Then I went to marias for our friday night mcdonalds and sleepover party. We slept in on saturday and decided to hit up Aeon Mall in Kanayama for some lite shopping...bought a couple flannel shirts and a plaid scarf, nothing too exciting. Afterwards we met up with the boys under the tv tower in Sakae for some classy outdoor drinking, and then went to a deliciously authentic indian restaurant for curry and proceeded to drink more on the streets, yet again so classy. and then I finally got to see Joe, a dude from my japanese classes at madison who lives in Nagoya, which was really fun! Then I headed home with Maria for the night since Handa is too far away and I was far too lazy to race to catch my last train home. Sunday Maria and I met up with some of the others for a soccer game in Nagoya--we got to see Nagoya Grampus v Tokyo Verdy...it wasnt a great game, as their level of play was nothing near that of world cup soccer, but at the last second nagoya finally scored a goal to tie the game and to remain in second in the league! It was nice to get a little dose of sports after being deprived of football for this season! I bought a jersey of the foreigner on the team, Johnsen, i thought I owed it to my swedish ancestors! anyways...after that I just went home to clean and get ready for the next week. This week is exam week and it has been just a pure bore! Monday I did absolutely nothing at Handa but I got to leave early, so I decided to go into Sakae and meet maria for some shopping...spending money is my therapy :) I also had to take my computer in to get looked at since Im pretty sure its dying and time to get a new one...ugh. Yesterday I also did nothing but talked to Kawai-sensei and she was teaching me japanese which was fun and katsumata-sensei, my supervisor, for a while to pass the time since I had no classes. For dinner I went to Agui to eat at Eeko Oda-san's house, a cute lady in my thurs english class. She had been inviting me for a while to come over so I thought I would take her up on her offer! She cooked me a delicious dinner...more fish with the eyes, etc, but I dug into that sucker and ate it...and it was good! I think my fear of fish is finally over! I got to met her husband, her daughter, and her one year old granddaughter, who is adorable and would make the perfect girlfriend for Louie. She also has 4 cats, which of course I loved and one of them kept jumping on the table and stealing my fish! Now I am just finishing up my day at Taketoyo after having a crazy class with these boys who kept asking me for my phone number and to send them an american girl, of course I offered Ashley and told them she will be coming in the mail soon! haha! Hope all is well in the states, its a bummer about the crew brew but they made a good run! send my some email updates with the crazy happenings in wisco, miss you all and as always lots of love from jpan! Oh and i found this story on BBC today...some crazy dude swimming nude in the moat of the imperial palace... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7656537.stm check it out!

Jpan Madness

ah so sorry with my slacking on the blog updating...eh. so the monday after i got back from tokyo i went to Utsumi and got to teach a class...I really like Utsumi because its a lower level school and the students are way more energetic and actually get involved in the class, which really helps me out with my teaching. The rest of the week I pretty much just went to school and either taught a couple classes or just sat around and did the usual reading of books or reading anything and everything i can possibly find online! some days I have two classes, some I have five so who knows. At Handa high I have finally moved on from the self-intros and got to teach a lesson on going to see the doctor, which was pretty fun and the students were semi-interested which is a plus. They didnt stare at me blankly the entire class, which is progress let me tell you. Maria and I were wrecked from tokyo tho and I still havent caught up on sleep from it. We met up for a little dinner date as usual...we do that once a week to keep the other from pure lonliness! That weekend, Sept 19-21, i went to nihongo class on friday as usual and learned some colors, shapes, body parts, etc...i really enjoy the class, the teachers are so sweet and helpful and its really helping my ability to survive in this country.After class friday I went to marias to hang out and watch movies...just a casual night in. On satuday we slept in late, which was wonderful, and then hit up Osu Kannon where there is a large temple and a bunch of shops and resturants and then we met up with some others for dinner at an izakaya. Then Sunday we finally went to Nagoya Castle, which was beautiful, although it rained the whole time we were there. I had to leave early to come back to Handa to teach english class to the wee ones and then Kaz and Maria met me in Handa for dinner at Mos Burger, which has cheap and delicious burgers, japanese style. On Monday I had no school at Utsumi because they had exams so I went to Handa Koko and they were so happy to see me, it was really cute! The principal came to talk to me and tell how happy he was to see me there because Handa koko is my home...too cute. I taught an all boys class with 40 boys and they were just hilarious, asking me all sorts of odd questions. ON tuesday we had no school because it was a holiday so I did some shopping, met up with Chris in town, and Maria for dinner at a little italian restaurant where we have become the token foreigners who eat there. Wed and Thurs were teaching classes as usual and then on friday on my way to japanese class i had to buy shinkansen tickets for tokyo and I did it all in japanese...i was sooo proud of myself haha! Then I went to class and got taken aside and taught extra verbs cuz im clearly one of the best students, but no the class is so much fun and the ladies who teach are just wonderful. So after class some of us went to the Vertex for drinks, which was nice until we got the bill and they charged us a night fee and a drinking fee and a large group fee...it was more a hassle than anything. Then i came home and got up at 6am on saturday to meet Maria at Nagoya to leave for Tokyo! We ended up getting on the train around 7:30 and we were on the train, in our seats, and all of a sudden the ladies voice came on and alerted us we were headed to Kyoto, which is the opposite direction from Tokyo and we couldnt get off! Just when you think you are doing ok in jpan it knocks you down again, but we eventually made it back to tokyo! When we got there I went off to the museums and Maria met up with Nozomi and the gunma jets for sumo. I went to three museums...oh yui you would love them! I went to see the John Everett Millais exhibit at the Bunkamura Museum, which was without a doubt the best exhibition ive ever seen and they had one of my favorite paintings, so i was just thrilled to be there. Then I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno and saw the Vermeer and other Delft Dutch painters around the same time...also excellent, they had some vermeers i have never seen so its always good to learn a thing or two! Then I headed to the Tokyo National Art Museum and just had enough time to see the Japanese art--some jomon vessels, kimonos, old buddha statues, ukiyo-e prints, and modern paintings. It was all in all a great afternoon well spent looking at art in japan! Definately the best day so far. I met up with Maria and the rest after to go to dinner at TGI Fridays, which was delicious and filling! Then we went to a club called WOMB...yea dont know...and then gas panic...not the one we went to in roppongi but there is another smaller one in shibuya which was fun, since we stayed out all night until 5am or so. Then we went back to Nozomis to get some sleep until around noon on sunday. After that we attempted to go to H&M again and failed as the line was still down the street, seriously these people are crazy. Then we wandered around ginza, did some shopping and i bought some of that amazing chocolate that they have in the department stores in Ginza...ohhh it is sooooo good! Then Maria and I got back on the shink around 6pm and made it home by 9 ish. Its always a great time in Tokyo, im sure ill be going back as soon as I can! xxxoo much love from japan and I will update this bad boy asap since I have some more stories for ya'll!