Freakin Influenza!!....>.<

October 9th Friday

So long time no update and no pictures yet. I`m really sorry guys, my life has been ridiculously busy lately what with the Elementary school festival coming up. I`ve been staying at school until 7-9pm helping with the preparations, especially for the 1st graders. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school Yuki and I would help Kitagawa-sensei (the 1st grade homeroom teacher) make costumes, props, etc. for the 1st graders` play. It`s fun, but I start lacking in sleep because then I come home and have to prep for the next day`s lesson and I try to have a decent meal.

Anyways, today when I came home it was f-Ing cold!! It dropped below 40 degrees dude! First time ever in my life to be that cold! So my lil old apt needed heating and I tried to turn on the heater to find out that I couldn`t operate it...I kept trying to push the buttons but the little screen just kept popping up green letters spelling "CL". I was like WTF? I`M FrEAKIN COLD! Work DAMNIT! And so I tried calling Su, but she couldn`t help me because she wasn`t in Kenbuchi; I called Satomi, but she too wasn`t here and so she called Mago-chan to come and help me and she dragged Ayako along. They were at a party when Satomi called them to come and I felt sooooo bad. But they both said that when they heard about my heater situation they felt bad for me and came to help. lol I get the `foreigner-is-unable-to-work-everyday-electronics` pity...But it was the first time for me to work such a heater. It`s not like the American electronic ones...It is electric in which it needs it to turn on, but the heat uses the kerosene oil from the container outside my apt. Oh and fyi, my apt area is like an explosion waiting to happen. Right outside my door is a can (or those large metal tubular things that hold gas) of Kerosene oil for my stove. And then next to my house is the large Kerosene oil container to heat up my water and the heater.

So they came over to help me try to figure out my heater and couldn`t figure it out either. Then they called Soutome-san to come over early tomorrow morning (7am on Saturday) to come and help me fix it. So I spent the night under several layers of blankets freezing as I slept...lol

October 10th Saturday

I woke up at 6:30am on a saturday to greet the dude who`s supposed to help me fix my heater. And let me tell you, my apt was like freezing over. Mago-chan also came over to help me in case I couldn`t understand his Japanese. So the man came to check on my heater and after pushing around buttons he was like "Your heater was on child-lock." Well I felt stupid. And Mago-chan was like "oh, was that the problem?" Yes, so now I know what to do when I can`t work my heater, press the child lock button 3 times. lol And the heater uses the kerosene oil to make a fire. Anyways, my room got warmer that`s for sure. Mago-chan stayed around a little bit and so I made breakfast for the both of us. She`s never had real Peanut Butter before and I just so happened to find real peanut butter in a store so I made PB&J. Woot!

Today we decided to go out shopping for stuff. It was decided last night when the girls came over to fix my heater and discovered that my living room light is dying on me. But before that I went to my 3rd-5th graders cheerleading practice to watch them. Oh! And fyi, cheerleading is a huge sport here in Kenbuchi. It`s the new in thing to do and because my town is so big on it that all the other cities around us come down and over to my lil town for cheer practice. Hehe. All the kids and coaches want me to join them because they know that I can dance. =P But I told them I`m just there to watch. The Cheerleading image in japan isn`t what you imagine in the states. It`s not full of ditzy popular girls or mean chicks or anything like the same image in the states. Totally different. I was really surprised to see some of my girls in the cheerleading team because they`re so different from the image I had. So cheer is actually a good accepted thing here. And it`s so great here that the Japan Representative Cheerleading team came here yesterday to do performances today and tomorrow. That`s cool! But unfortunately I couldn`t make it to both of them. Today`s reason was because I had already promised the girls that we would go out.

So Ayako came to pick us up in her luxury black car that I felt I should be a millionare to ride...Man, who knew the priesstess`s daughter had so much money? lol We went to Asahikawa. We first went to Yamada Electronics store and that place was HUGE!1!! And guess what!? I even saw a LOTUS there? As in the sexy lil sportscar. I was like DUDE?! WHAT!? A lotus!? WTF? But then again, I shouldn`t be surprised anymore. I swear, on the way here I saw several hot and sexy sportscars here and more than my fill of hotass motorcycles. Yes...I`m a sucker for hot vehicles. Even better, hot vehicles with hot men on them. lol Them Japanese people like them crazy looking sportscars and racecars...like maybe for some late night in the parking structure drifting races maybe? lol ehehe. >D Then we went to Toys R Us and it was amazing! They had real American products and stuff there! I was very happy to see all that. I finally bought a picture frame for my 1000piece puzzle. Then we decided to go to Karaoke!!! After 2 hours of 飲み放題 and endless songs we became hungry and went to go find food to eat.

Ayako recommended a Soup-curryスープカレー place. It was small and rundown looking on the outside, but once you step in it`s like your in an Indian cavern. The music was like funky trance Indian music and the waiters in there were all really gangsta looking. haha. Everyone in the restaurant were young and hot looking peoples. And I swear I saw a guy in there who looked exactly like Mizushima Hiro, but he was with his gf. Boo...lol The food portion was HUGE! But it wasn`t my favorite. Asahikawa is famous for its soup-curry, but I`m not too fond of it to be frank. Then we went to Mega Don Quixote!! AND IT WAS F-ING HUGE!!! LIKE DUDE!!! All my ICU EAP-ers should remember the Don Quixotes in Tokyo right? Well think that except twice as big! And it had an arcade and restaurants and brand name items in there too! Like it carried Chanel, Coach, LV. It was crazy! I think I might spend a lot of my time there in the future. haha. After that we went home. Twas a good day.

October 13th Tuesday

Yesterday was an official holiday, the day of health. So I didn`t have to go to work. But today at work I heard from my boss that some children at my elementary have influenza A H1N1!!!!! So they closed the school for the week, but the teachers still have to go to school. ANd I still have to work. So I stayed in the BOE until lunch time, went to go have lunch and then went to the high school to teach my lazy 3rd years. I really do not like teaching at the high school as the kids are disrespectful and the teachers don`t really talk. The atmosphere in the teachers` room always seems really heavy.

In my 3rd grade class I decided to play hangman with them and divided them into groups. Well, they divided themselves, so there was a group of the most noisy and inattentive boys in the class. When I asked that group to give me a letter they answered with "You`re beautiful" and "Love" and "You`re my wife" ....Hmm...I think maybe it was because I cut my hair and straightened it. lol My friend even said I looked younger, like a high school student. haha. cool. Then after that in the hallways and stuff the other boys would come and talk to me and everything more than they did before....ehehe. Well, I guess my haircut was a good thing. Now I just have to lose weight. =P

After that I went to the middle school to help the 3rd year girls with their play for the English contest on the 20th of this month. I stayed until 6pm.

October 15th Thursday

As usual I had my high school class and as soon as that was over I went home to take a nap before heading over to the elementary school. I didn`t have to teach the 1st year highschool kids today so I had an extra hour. So I took that hour to nap at home. I was dead tired. And then I went to the elementary. At the elementary none of the teachers were in the teachers lounge which was strange because since the school closed for the week there shouldn`t be any classes. So I walked around and found Kitagawa-sensei doing some things in his classroom for preparation for next week. He told me that all the teachers were in the cooking classroom on the 2nd floor. I went up and in and my glasses fogged up. lol It was so warm in the class especially since there was boiling water in a large pot. The teachers were making soba! lol They made the dough themselves and cut it and then cooked it! LOL It was awesome! I decided to help in cleaning since I got there when they were all done. I felt a little awkward at first because I`m never too sure on conversations with these teachers. It`s a little hard for me to talk with the elementary teachers. And plus my Japanese aint that good so it`s kinda a problem. ANyways, I ate the soba and it was very very good! Afterwards I decided to head over to the middle school since there was nothing for me to do at the elementary.

I stayed at the middle school until 5:30pm. And I also found out that 17 of my elementary kids have influenza...the really bad one. I`m really really worried about them because on the news there have been children dying from it. I really hope my children are alright. They`re such wonderful kids.

Otsukare-sama for reading. I promise pictures will come up soon!