Dec. 19 Saturday
So today my sup and I went to go check out snowboards and snowboarding gear at this awesomely big sports shop called Xebio. Some of the decor included fake/stuffed/taxidermed wildlife and for a sec I was like "whoa, they sell hunting rifles here too?" Cuz, you know, that`s usually how it is if you go to a sports shop in the US; it`s either full of camping gear or rifles when there`s animals like that around....lol
So anyways, I found a board, boots, and bindings set, all for 500 bucks total cuz it was on sale. But I didn`t buy it because I had found a board in a recycle shop earlier for 32 bucks. And plus I`ve never snowboarded in my life, so I was planning on maybe renting first to see how I like it. But I think I will be boarding alot here because that`s basically the big sport here in Hokkaido. And plus there`s a ski hill in every town. So it`s crazy if I don`t learn a winter sport besides skating here. I need to get out more and work out too. haha.
In the evening Su and I went to Bikkuri Donkey to eat hamburg steaks. They were soooo damn good there!
Dec. 20 Sunday
Went over to Asahikawa to hang with Alan! My first time hanging with him in Asahikawa. I usually don`t have the time, but this time I was like, "Yes! Free!" I had a car so I drove him and I to JUSCO for some shopping goods. Christmas presents etc. Yes, it`s a lil late for me to still be buying gifts especially since I have to send it to CA, but hey, I know or I hope my family won`t mind late presents. =P And then we stuffed ourselves at the buffet there. haha. Alan saw a couple of his high school students, and i saw a couple of my elementary kids. hehe.
Dec. 22nd Tuesday
So today was the Christmas party at the nusery at 10am, but before that, at my elementary was the individual grades music concert at 9:30am. So since my 6th graders were last to perform, I was unable to see the whole thing and had to rush off to the nursery. At the nursery the party was already well underway and each of the classes performed a Christmas song. It was soooooooooOOOOOO CUTE! I melted when I saw all of them in their little cute proper formal christmas wear and party hats. I wore my reindeer headband and all the kids were like "AH! REINDEER!" And asked me if Santa`s coming or not. lol Cute. I was surprised, however, when the kids (my older ones, 5 and 6 year olds) were aloud to hold open flame stick candles and walk with it and light the menora in the center of the stage. I was freaking out because I was like "OMG you guys are getting too close to the person in front of you!! Watch the hair! THe hair!" The lil kids were trying to be as careful as possible and kept only staring at the candle. And it was actually really funny to see because they were just absolutely mezmerized by their candles and couldn`t stop staring at it. lol But I was still freaking out. Open flamed candle stick, children, walking in one line really close to each other makes for a bad combo. Afterwards I had to head back to the elementary because I was going to teach a special Christmas lesson to my 6th graders. Although my nursery kids were asking me to stay for the afternoon and asked why I had to go. hehe. cuties!
Once I got off of work I immediately came home and got ready for the bounenkai (end of the year party) with my middle school teachers. It was held in Asahikawa, so Iwata-sensei came to pick me up and we booked individual rooms together at a hotel there since there was going to be massive drinking at the party tonight and none of us wanted to drive back home at 2-3am in the morning. I was able to talk to my family on skype for a bit, but was talking and running around fretting about what to do with myself for the party. haha. So at 5pm I was picked up and we checked into our wonderful nice hotel rooms (well, great except for the fact that it smelt like cigarretes) And then left to go to the party venue.
The place was called Shiraume. And it was damn awesome and delicious! They were famous for their tempura. And then they had Mushi-shabu which uses the shabu-shabu pot, but on top of it you put a bamboo box and put the meat and veggies inside and then cover it, and steam it via the shabu pot beneath. It was delicious! And I loved the atmosphere with all the teachers. Yappari, my middle school teachers are the best to get along with and party with. They`re so much fun and lively and crazy! haha. I love them. Afterwards we reserved a bar/snack (as that`s what they call dark places with few lights that has a bar, and sofas, and a karaoke machine) for all of us to have 90minutes all you can drink alcoholic beverages. Dangerous. lol There I sung my heart out with karaoke. Hagino-sensei was excellent however. LOL His actions, adlibbing, and super genkiness even had the other customers joining in with us! haha. Then afterwards we went to another bar to drink witha ll you can drink stuffs. But I was starting to get tired and I had another party the next day, so I decided halfway to head back to the room and crash.
Okay, right now, I`m at work and it`s the big cleaning day at my elementary. So I will go clean now. More updates later! Bye! Otsukare!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I think by the end of this month, I`m going to be sick of parties.
Alright guys, it`s been a while since my last post. I`ve just been too tired and busy lately. But now that I have nothing to do while I`m at work, I can post! Yay! =P
Dec. 13 Sunday
Today is the Christmas party at the storybook library/museum for the elementary and nursery kids! I volunteered to help out but there really wasn`t much for me to do except look after the children. So all the volunteers all had little Santa aprons and hats on and because I didn`t, I decided to be a reindeer with snow on it. I wore my reindeer ears, a brown tank, and brown leggings with a white fluffy poncho like thing(shawl?) that represented the snow. =P I got there and people weren`t expecting me to be all dressed up, so they were all like WHA?! lol I love dressing up for the occasion so I couldn`t pass it up. The kids thought I was funny and liked to play with my ears because I was the only reindeer. There were lotsa santa`s helpers and santas though. haha. Several of my high school girls also decided to volunteer at the party. So it was a jolly good time bonding with them! I normally don`t talk to them very much at school, but I was happy to be able to talk to them now. They`re sweet and happy children.
I felt so popular at the party because I knew basically every kid! They were all my students. When they came in through the doors and saw me, all smiles. I love them, my babies. I met a lot of the nursery kids parents and they all already knew who I was. I even got invited by one of them to go over for dinner. Turns out she`s the wife of one of my cool high school teachers that I actually talk to. Their son, Genshuu, is seriously adorable and loves English time. ^^ Anyways, when it was time to do a dance together,(I think I must have lost all shame by now) a couple of the kids came over to hold my hand because they wanted to dance with me. haha, cute!!! And I was the only one going all out on the little cute dance because I had to keep up my image of a fun wierd exciting teacher for the kids. haha. -Seriously, at school, I`m quite the wierd teacher and sometimes even the teachers are like "What...are you doing, Theresa?" Or they`ll just laugh at me because I do weird actions. It`s all for my kids. Oddly enough, by me being my weird crazy self, the kids respect me more. The class becomes more fun and lively that way. I like it. The teachers get a kick out of it too. And by chasing students down and poking them until they finally say hello in English to me, I`m getting the students to be more into speaking it (cuz they have to, otherwise they`ll be poked endlessly >D). But that`s mainly only at my elementary.-
Anyways, the kids all had fun at the party and went home happy and with presents. I hung around and went to the otsukare party afterwards with my high school girls. But I didn`t feel right staying there too long and eating the food because I really didn`t do anything to help, except clean up and mind the kids. But they all still gave me a present and homemade cake which is very good btw! ^^
Dec. 16 Wednesday
So, I found out yesterday that my high school has a dormitory. I was like, really?! A dorm in high school? It`s my first time hearing it, but I`m sure there are other high schools like this in the states...i think. It`s located right behind the school. It`s super nice and cozy and has 22 students living in it, seperated into the boys` dorm and the girls` dorm. Although there are only 5 boys living there. lol The boys` area was super dirty compared to the girls even though they clean the dorm everyday after school! Dedication! But they had a PS3 and Grand Theft Auto! I was like, "DUDE! You guys realize I`m coming over here more often now, right?" It also had a cafeteria in it with the cafeteria ladies. The ladies told me about a party happening Wednesday night for the students and teachers in this dorm for Christmas! They invited me to come! I was super excited and said yes because I wanted to spend more time with the high school students and come back to this dorm because it`s awesome! And then I realized that I`m going to be having Christmas party overload. This month is the month of Bounenkai`s or End of the Year work parties and Christmas parties. Parties galore to be exact. I have two more parties tomorrow night to go to too.......
So at first on this night I wasn`t sure if I wanted to go because I was super tired after work today, but I`m quite glad I went. Actually, the free food enticed me to go. haha. So when I entered the cafeteria, all the kids were like "OMG, Theresa!" And were all excited! One of the boys was even like "Tension agatta zo!" which basically means the atmosphere is getting more exciting, for a lack of better translation for this...lol The food was soo good and I got to eat Japanese pizza. I had one with shrimp and mayonnaise and one with raw ham on it (proscuitto?) But food was so damn good and my kids loved talking to me. And then the boys decided to go dress up or cross dress and came in wearing sexy dresses and evreything. haha. They were sooooo skinny! More than some of the girls! I took pictures. =P Afterwards, we played some games like bingo, charades, and quiz games. It was pretty fun. I kept getting the "Kawaii!!~" from all my girls too. And then they all asked my if I had a bf and when I said no, all the girls were super surprised and was like "Wha? But you`re so cute!" lol Thanks girls. You make me feel special. So the night ended at 9pm and was wonderfully fun. Mainly because the dorm was really comfy feeling. Woot.
Dec. 17 Thursday
A hectic day of partying. Seriously, no joke. I had two Christmas parties today, one starting at 6pm and one at 6:30pm. Yes....they were basically at the same time. And I had just finished teaching at the elementary school today, running around and playing with the kids, so I was already ready to just pass out. But since I payed for the 6pm one, which is for the 30 years old and under workers in town crew I wanted to get my money`s worth. And I promised my Taiko kids (the party at 6:30) that I would be there to exchange presents and play with them. So I first went to the 6pm one at really hot nabe (hot pot) really fast, burnt my tongue, and then at 6:25 went over to the club hall for the other party. Actually, I would`ve been able ot eat more and a little slower if there weren`t so many speeches before eating. That`s about the only thing I don`t like here that people have to give long speeches before eating taking up precious eating time and letting the food go cold. Just kampai and lets eat! >.< At the 6pm party I didn`t really talk to other people very much except for Su because she`s the easiest to talk to for me and the funniest. So I was actually pretty excited to go to the 6:30pm one with my kids.
At the club hall my kids and their parents had already arrived and were sitting down at the tables waiting for the teachers to all arrive. I was second to last to arrive and felt pretty bad, but my kids were excited to see me and my girls were like "Theresa-sensei, come sit next to us!" And they even said, "It`s good isn`t it? Theresa-sensei is sitting with us!" I felt more glowy and happy. It was much more comfortable sitting there with my students and their parents and the taiko group rather than the 6pm party with people who are the same age as me. Either, I`m really just a kid at heart or maybe the atmospehere was better. I don`t know. It made me wonder though. Anyways, we played a fun and cute game with stuffed animals and Bingo and then did a present exchange. Most of the gifts that the parents got were all given to the younger kids because the presents were mainly fun kids things. I got 2 nice pens and cute erasers from one of my 1st grade boys. I was quite happy actually. I need them! ^^
Then after sitting and playing with my kids for a lil while longer, I was called by Su and other peoples at the 6pm party to go back because they want to start the present exchange. So as much as i hated to leave my taiko party, I had to because, one I was still hungry for more food, and I paid for the thing, and I didn`t want to be rude to them. So I bid my kids farewell for the night and went back to the other party. I actually got lucky and got this huge apple pie made by the local bakery. It looks so damn good, but I can`t eat all of it, so I think I`m gonna give some to other people, or just Su since she eats so much anyways. lol After the first party ended, there was a second party to go to, which i wasn`t sure if I should go or not. But against better judgement i went. I drank no alcohol though because I was driving. And I didn`t want to drink anymore after all the drinking in Sapporo. I wanted to give myself time to rest and let my liver recover. lol So I stayed there and talked to everyone for a little bit and then left at around 11pm. I was quite exhausted to say the least. And now I`m at work writing my blog update. I`m really quite tired right now, but pumping myself full of coffee to keep me going throughout the day. Hahh.....I have more parties next week too...3 more to be exact. One on the 22nd, 23rd, and 25th. Luckily, on my B-day, the 24th, I can just stay at home and chill. Or, maybe go out and party......
Otsukare-sama! Pics willl will will be up soon. There will be about 300 or so pics so just be warned. Love you all!
Dec. 13 Sunday
Today is the Christmas party at the storybook library/museum for the elementary and nursery kids! I volunteered to help out but there really wasn`t much for me to do except look after the children. So all the volunteers all had little Santa aprons and hats on and because I didn`t, I decided to be a reindeer with snow on it. I wore my reindeer ears, a brown tank, and brown leggings with a white fluffy poncho like thing(shawl?) that represented the snow. =P I got there and people weren`t expecting me to be all dressed up, so they were all like WHA?! lol I love dressing up for the occasion so I couldn`t pass it up. The kids thought I was funny and liked to play with my ears because I was the only reindeer. There were lotsa santa`s helpers and santas though. haha. Several of my high school girls also decided to volunteer at the party. So it was a jolly good time bonding with them! I normally don`t talk to them very much at school, but I was happy to be able to talk to them now. They`re sweet and happy children.
I felt so popular at the party because I knew basically every kid! They were all my students. When they came in through the doors and saw me, all smiles. I love them, my babies. I met a lot of the nursery kids parents and they all already knew who I was. I even got invited by one of them to go over for dinner. Turns out she`s the wife of one of my cool high school teachers that I actually talk to. Their son, Genshuu, is seriously adorable and loves English time. ^^ Anyways, when it was time to do a dance together,(I think I must have lost all shame by now) a couple of the kids came over to hold my hand because they wanted to dance with me. haha, cute!!! And I was the only one going all out on the little cute dance because I had to keep up my image of a fun wierd exciting teacher for the kids. haha. -Seriously, at school, I`m quite the wierd teacher and sometimes even the teachers are like "What...are you doing, Theresa?" Or they`ll just laugh at me because I do weird actions. It`s all for my kids. Oddly enough, by me being my weird crazy self, the kids respect me more. The class becomes more fun and lively that way. I like it. The teachers get a kick out of it too. And by chasing students down and poking them until they finally say hello in English to me, I`m getting the students to be more into speaking it (cuz they have to, otherwise they`ll be poked endlessly >D). But that`s mainly only at my elementary.-
Anyways, the kids all had fun at the party and went home happy and with presents. I hung around and went to the otsukare party afterwards with my high school girls. But I didn`t feel right staying there too long and eating the food because I really didn`t do anything to help, except clean up and mind the kids. But they all still gave me a present and homemade cake which is very good btw! ^^
Dec. 16 Wednesday
So, I found out yesterday that my high school has a dormitory. I was like, really?! A dorm in high school? It`s my first time hearing it, but I`m sure there are other high schools like this in the states...i think. It`s located right behind the school. It`s super nice and cozy and has 22 students living in it, seperated into the boys` dorm and the girls` dorm. Although there are only 5 boys living there. lol The boys` area was super dirty compared to the girls even though they clean the dorm everyday after school! Dedication! But they had a PS3 and Grand Theft Auto! I was like, "DUDE! You guys realize I`m coming over here more often now, right?" It also had a cafeteria in it with the cafeteria ladies. The ladies told me about a party happening Wednesday night for the students and teachers in this dorm for Christmas! They invited me to come! I was super excited and said yes because I wanted to spend more time with the high school students and come back to this dorm because it`s awesome! And then I realized that I`m going to be having Christmas party overload. This month is the month of Bounenkai`s or End of the Year work parties and Christmas parties. Parties galore to be exact. I have two more parties tomorrow night to go to too.......
So at first on this night I wasn`t sure if I wanted to go because I was super tired after work today, but I`m quite glad I went. Actually, the free food enticed me to go. haha. So when I entered the cafeteria, all the kids were like "OMG, Theresa!" And were all excited! One of the boys was even like "Tension agatta zo!" which basically means the atmosphere is getting more exciting, for a lack of better translation for this...lol The food was soo good and I got to eat Japanese pizza. I had one with shrimp and mayonnaise and one with raw ham on it (proscuitto?) But food was so damn good and my kids loved talking to me. And then the boys decided to go dress up or cross dress and came in wearing sexy dresses and evreything. haha. They were sooooo skinny! More than some of the girls! I took pictures. =P Afterwards, we played some games like bingo, charades, and quiz games. It was pretty fun. I kept getting the "Kawaii!!~" from all my girls too. And then they all asked my if I had a bf and when I said no, all the girls were super surprised and was like "Wha? But you`re so cute!" lol Thanks girls. You make me feel special. So the night ended at 9pm and was wonderfully fun. Mainly because the dorm was really comfy feeling. Woot.
Dec. 17 Thursday
A hectic day of partying. Seriously, no joke. I had two Christmas parties today, one starting at 6pm and one at 6:30pm. Yes....they were basically at the same time. And I had just finished teaching at the elementary school today, running around and playing with the kids, so I was already ready to just pass out. But since I payed for the 6pm one, which is for the 30 years old and under workers in town crew I wanted to get my money`s worth. And I promised my Taiko kids (the party at 6:30) that I would be there to exchange presents and play with them. So I first went to the 6pm one at really hot nabe (hot pot) really fast, burnt my tongue, and then at 6:25 went over to the club hall for the other party. Actually, I would`ve been able ot eat more and a little slower if there weren`t so many speeches before eating. That`s about the only thing I don`t like here that people have to give long speeches before eating taking up precious eating time and letting the food go cold. Just kampai and lets eat! >.< At the 6pm party I didn`t really talk to other people very much except for Su because she`s the easiest to talk to for me and the funniest. So I was actually pretty excited to go to the 6:30pm one with my kids.
At the club hall my kids and their parents had already arrived and were sitting down at the tables waiting for the teachers to all arrive. I was second to last to arrive and felt pretty bad, but my kids were excited to see me and my girls were like "Theresa-sensei, come sit next to us!" And they even said, "It`s good isn`t it? Theresa-sensei is sitting with us!" I felt more glowy and happy. It was much more comfortable sitting there with my students and their parents and the taiko group rather than the 6pm party with people who are the same age as me. Either, I`m really just a kid at heart or maybe the atmospehere was better. I don`t know. It made me wonder though. Anyways, we played a fun and cute game with stuffed animals and Bingo and then did a present exchange. Most of the gifts that the parents got were all given to the younger kids because the presents were mainly fun kids things. I got 2 nice pens and cute erasers from one of my 1st grade boys. I was quite happy actually. I need them! ^^
Then after sitting and playing with my kids for a lil while longer, I was called by Su and other peoples at the 6pm party to go back because they want to start the present exchange. So as much as i hated to leave my taiko party, I had to because, one I was still hungry for more food, and I paid for the thing, and I didn`t want to be rude to them. So I bid my kids farewell for the night and went back to the other party. I actually got lucky and got this huge apple pie made by the local bakery. It looks so damn good, but I can`t eat all of it, so I think I`m gonna give some to other people, or just Su since she eats so much anyways. lol After the first party ended, there was a second party to go to, which i wasn`t sure if I should go or not. But against better judgement i went. I drank no alcohol though because I was driving. And I didn`t want to drink anymore after all the drinking in Sapporo. I wanted to give myself time to rest and let my liver recover. lol So I stayed there and talked to everyone for a little bit and then left at around 11pm. I was quite exhausted to say the least. And now I`m at work writing my blog update. I`m really quite tired right now, but pumping myself full of coffee to keep me going throughout the day. Hahh.....I have more parties next week too...3 more to be exact. One on the 22nd, 23rd, and 25th. Luckily, on my B-day, the 24th, I can just stay at home and chill. Or, maybe go out and party......
Otsukare-sama! Pics willl will will be up soon. There will be about 300 or so pics so just be warned. Love you all!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sapporo Orientation MYC (Mid Year Conference) and others
December 2nd Wednesday
So this is the second time this week that I`ve woken up late for work! I woke up at 8:30am and I was supposed to be at the school by 8:10am! Damn alarm clock had run out of batteries while I was sleeping. So, yes, I was very late. But, luckily, I didn`t have to teach until second period, so the vice principal and the other teachers all said that it was totally fine and not a big deal since I`ve never been late before. Just as long as I don`t do it again. eheh. But I felt terrible because I also needed to leave an hour earlier to catch the train to Asahikawa city to change onto the fast train to Sapporo for the Mid year conference that starts tomorrow. So troublesome. But all the teachers said it was okay for me to do so.
So I got all my stuff ready and went off to the train station. When I got to Asahikawa station and was waiting in line to get on the fast limited express train, I saw a girl who looked very familiar because I`ve seen her several times. I vaguely remembered that it was Mio and so I called her name and she responded. It was such a coincidence that we were on the same train together. She lives and works in Biei which is about an hour south of Asahikawa. I`m an hour north. So we sat together on the train and had a good conversation. Turns out we both have the same interests and all that which is awesome. And then a caucasian guy came over to talk to us and we found out he was one of the ALTs in Nayoro city which is only an hour north of me. And I knew Abby and Giselle were also from there so they were also on the train as well. There were actually a lot of us ALTs on the train all headed over to the hotel for the night since we all live so far away that we didn`t want to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to leave for Sapporo.
Once we all got to Sapporo, we parted ways after we checked into the hotel, and since I didn`t have a room to stay in because my BOE was being cheap and didn`t want to pay for the extra night, I stayed the night with Abby. So then John (the Nayoro ALT) and I went to go meet up with Collin and two other guy ALTs from Hamatonbetsu which is near where Collin is. However, from the first impression I got from them, they seemed like trouble. And that`s kindof how it was that night. They were crazy ass guys and I started feeling alittle uncomfortable with them. Our conversations got pretty perverted and I was like "Whoa!" But I really should be used to dirty conversations since me and a bunch of you guys back home constatnly had really wierd and wrong conversations. But because I`ve been isolated from that and have been constantly in the polite sweet mannered jpanaese peoples` company (well, as sweet mannered as they can be until they drink) it`s been way too long since anything like that has happened. At around 12am I decided that I wanted to head home because it was just too much. I know that John was very unhappy with these guys by the end of the night that`s for sure.
So I spent half the night sleeping on the floor in my friend`s room and then was called back to sleep on the bed, to which I kind of got kicked off a little. lol But it wasn`t bad at all. haha. I really appreciated her letting me sleep there for the night, though. Thank you so much Abby! Luvs!
Nov. 3rd Thursday
So neither Abby nor I woke up until 8am because we didn`t need to be at the meeting until 10:30am. Yeah, being able to wake up that late on a weekday is wonderful. I was able to meet up with Miki and everyone else that morning so I was super excited and happy to see everyone. The conference was okay, I mean the it felt like college lectures all over again for some part of it. But when Chelle did her presentation, that was awesome! And what she said was pretty true. Like how when we phone back home to the states, for some of us who have been so isolated, and tell our family and friends how we`re so excited when we get to eat fried chicken for lunch. lol Thtat was totally me. I get excited when little things like that happen. haha.
So tonight is the MYC ball which is an 80`s prom theme. My homies and I didn`t have 80`s theme dresses or clothes, so we all just kinda stuck with our cocktail dresses. I wore my dress with black "fiberheat" (nice and warm) pantyhose or stockings, and silver heels with my black fur coat. I looked and felt really Japanese. haha. My friends even said the same thing. =P Oh, and I met Davie Bowie. lol
Afterwards we went to TK6 which is the foreigners bar in town to drink and stuff, but I ended up going home early because I was tired and the next day we had to wake up earlier for the conference. But i had a good Long Island Ice Tea before I went home.
Nov. 4th Friday
Last day of conference. At night I went to go see the White Illumination in Odori Park. It`s when they decorate the park with a lot of lights and light statues and stuff. So it was absolutely beautiful! Then they also had the Mulhen festival in the park which is a German Christmas festival. That was cool. I had real sausages and real saurkraut! So damn good. I also had warm cherry beer which was actually very good. I met up with other ALTs there too! And got to take a picture with the German santa! Yay! ^^ Afterwards we were supposed to meet up with Steph to go eat, but it turned out to be pretty late by the time we got back to the hotel and we all wanted to go clubbing too. So we decided to just make a run to the conbini and head over to the girl`s hotel and eat there while everyone was sitll getting ready.
However, we accidentally walked into the love hotel that`s right next door because we thought that that was the hotel they were staying at. We went inside and knew it was not a normal hotel as the hallway and entryway had no one there and allt here was was an elevator and a wall with pictures of available rooms. HAH! That was my first timein one and i was excited because they always have like the coolest rooms ever! Seriously, they were swanky! So I called the girls and was like "dude, are you guys staying in a love hotel?" And they said that it was called the Business Inn hotel, which is very different from the one we were in. lol =P We found it right next door and it looked completely different. haha. Anyways we went to the girl`s room and they looked damn hot! Well, everyone just looked good that night. It`s been awhile since we`ve all dressed up to go dancin. I wore my one piece long sleeve semi-dress top that bared a shoulder with leggings and my stylish brown legboots. Lol I was thinking of heels, but then decided against it. haha.
So we walked all the way to the club and when we got there we found out they were playing hip hop and reggae!!! YESSSHHHH!!! I love it. We also had met up with Jonathon and his wife. So all the cool kids were there. All the guys were dressed up in button up shirts and nice pants. But the Japanese guys at the club were all just wearing sweatshirts and jeans and caps. lol Steph couldn`t get over that fact because back at home, the guys would totally be kicked out. lol =P I do like it when guys dress up nicer for clubbin. But it was pretty funny. The guys just wear their street clothes in. haha. The music was pretty good and we spotted these 3 girls who were damn good at dancing and figured that by the way they danced, they cannot possibly be from Japan. So i asked one girl with short hair and she said they were from Tokyo but originally came from New York. So that`s why! I fell in love with her. Seriously, she was so hot when she danced. Man. X3
At 5am our feet were dying and getting tired so we decided to go home. I crashed at Collin`s that night because I had no other place to stay. So thanks muchos Collin! Appreciation!
Next day, woke up at 10 checked out at 11 and decided to go eat at an awesome Indian restraunt with Nan and curry and then went shopping for a little bit. Then headed back home. Everyone was ready to pass out we were so freakin tired. lol
Nov. 6th Sunday
Stayed at home, found out my pipes froze and tried to unfreeze them. The temp in my apt was 1 degrees celsius. Wooo. lol So I ordered some delicious potato and cod roe pizza (which is seriously damn good) and stayed at home planning games and lesson plans for my elementary school kids. Fun day. lol Well actually it really was because I was able to talk with my love, Linda. I lurv you massly Lindas!
Nov. 7th Monday
I stocked myself up on coffee galore because I was still feeling the effects of the lack of sleep the entire time I was at the conference. Seriously, each night I only had at most 4 hours of sleep. And i always start my mondays with my super energetic little nursery babies which require all of your energy. Like crazy. Then after was the elementary 6th grade which also required a shit load of my energy. I seriuosly go crazy when I`m in school with the kids. I try to match with their energy and level of excitement so by the end of the day I`m ready to pass out. Waaaaa....But it`s always alot of funwith them. At the elementary today all my kids told me "Theresa-sensei daisuki!!!" which means I love you Ms. Theresa!! and gave me big hugs WAAHHH!! To which I responded back with equally large huggage. When the teachers told them that I will still be in the elementary when they go there, they were all like "yatta!" ^_^ woo children. And then at the elementary school, because I was super genki and super outgoing with the kids today, the kids fed off my energy and were excited for class. They loved me and loved talking to me. Yay!! Seriuosly, I had so many kids tell me they loved me today. I feel so special.
Nov. 8th Tuesday
Today was my BOE`s bounenkai which means end of the year party where they can forget all their troubles this year and look forward to the next year. It wasn`t terrible, but it wasn`t awesome. I just liked the sukiyaki they had. That was super good. I won bingo and got soba making basket things......And then went back home and had a good talk time with Su (my supervisor which I totally love and adore cuz she`s so awesome). We had a pretty hilarious conversation. XD Anyways,
Otsukare-sama for reading all. And be prepared for 300 or so pics to be up by this weekend. For sure! Love you all. I think I need to hold back on the coffee drinking. But without it, I`m unable to give enough energy to the kids in my elementary. soooo tired.....
So this is the second time this week that I`ve woken up late for work! I woke up at 8:30am and I was supposed to be at the school by 8:10am! Damn alarm clock had run out of batteries while I was sleeping. So, yes, I was very late. But, luckily, I didn`t have to teach until second period, so the vice principal and the other teachers all said that it was totally fine and not a big deal since I`ve never been late before. Just as long as I don`t do it again. eheh. But I felt terrible because I also needed to leave an hour earlier to catch the train to Asahikawa city to change onto the fast train to Sapporo for the Mid year conference that starts tomorrow. So troublesome. But all the teachers said it was okay for me to do so.
So I got all my stuff ready and went off to the train station. When I got to Asahikawa station and was waiting in line to get on the fast limited express train, I saw a girl who looked very familiar because I`ve seen her several times. I vaguely remembered that it was Mio and so I called her name and she responded. It was such a coincidence that we were on the same train together. She lives and works in Biei which is about an hour south of Asahikawa. I`m an hour north. So we sat together on the train and had a good conversation. Turns out we both have the same interests and all that which is awesome. And then a caucasian guy came over to talk to us and we found out he was one of the ALTs in Nayoro city which is only an hour north of me. And I knew Abby and Giselle were also from there so they were also on the train as well. There were actually a lot of us ALTs on the train all headed over to the hotel for the night since we all live so far away that we didn`t want to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to leave for Sapporo.
Once we all got to Sapporo, we parted ways after we checked into the hotel, and since I didn`t have a room to stay in because my BOE was being cheap and didn`t want to pay for the extra night, I stayed the night with Abby. So then John (the Nayoro ALT) and I went to go meet up with Collin and two other guy ALTs from Hamatonbetsu which is near where Collin is. However, from the first impression I got from them, they seemed like trouble. And that`s kindof how it was that night. They were crazy ass guys and I started feeling alittle uncomfortable with them. Our conversations got pretty perverted and I was like "Whoa!" But I really should be used to dirty conversations since me and a bunch of you guys back home constatnly had really wierd and wrong conversations. But because I`ve been isolated from that and have been constantly in the polite sweet mannered jpanaese peoples` company (well, as sweet mannered as they can be until they drink) it`s been way too long since anything like that has happened. At around 12am I decided that I wanted to head home because it was just too much. I know that John was very unhappy with these guys by the end of the night that`s for sure.
So I spent half the night sleeping on the floor in my friend`s room and then was called back to sleep on the bed, to which I kind of got kicked off a little. lol But it wasn`t bad at all. haha. I really appreciated her letting me sleep there for the night, though. Thank you so much Abby! Luvs!
Nov. 3rd Thursday
So neither Abby nor I woke up until 8am because we didn`t need to be at the meeting until 10:30am. Yeah, being able to wake up that late on a weekday is wonderful. I was able to meet up with Miki and everyone else that morning so I was super excited and happy to see everyone. The conference was okay, I mean the it felt like college lectures all over again for some part of it. But when Chelle did her presentation, that was awesome! And what she said was pretty true. Like how when we phone back home to the states, for some of us who have been so isolated, and tell our family and friends how we`re so excited when we get to eat fried chicken for lunch. lol Thtat was totally me. I get excited when little things like that happen. haha.
So tonight is the MYC ball which is an 80`s prom theme. My homies and I didn`t have 80`s theme dresses or clothes, so we all just kinda stuck with our cocktail dresses. I wore my dress with black "fiberheat" (nice and warm) pantyhose or stockings, and silver heels with my black fur coat. I looked and felt really Japanese. haha. My friends even said the same thing. =P Oh, and I met Davie Bowie. lol
Afterwards we went to TK6 which is the foreigners bar in town to drink and stuff, but I ended up going home early because I was tired and the next day we had to wake up earlier for the conference. But i had a good Long Island Ice Tea before I went home.
Nov. 4th Friday
Last day of conference. At night I went to go see the White Illumination in Odori Park. It`s when they decorate the park with a lot of lights and light statues and stuff. So it was absolutely beautiful! Then they also had the Mulhen festival in the park which is a German Christmas festival. That was cool. I had real sausages and real saurkraut! So damn good. I also had warm cherry beer which was actually very good. I met up with other ALTs there too! And got to take a picture with the German santa! Yay! ^^ Afterwards we were supposed to meet up with Steph to go eat, but it turned out to be pretty late by the time we got back to the hotel and we all wanted to go clubbing too. So we decided to just make a run to the conbini and head over to the girl`s hotel and eat there while everyone was sitll getting ready.
However, we accidentally walked into the love hotel that`s right next door because we thought that that was the hotel they were staying at. We went inside and knew it was not a normal hotel as the hallway and entryway had no one there and allt here was was an elevator and a wall with pictures of available rooms. HAH! That was my first timein one and i was excited because they always have like the coolest rooms ever! Seriously, they were swanky! So I called the girls and was like "dude, are you guys staying in a love hotel?" And they said that it was called the Business Inn hotel, which is very different from the one we were in. lol =P We found it right next door and it looked completely different. haha. Anyways we went to the girl`s room and they looked damn hot! Well, everyone just looked good that night. It`s been awhile since we`ve all dressed up to go dancin. I wore my one piece long sleeve semi-dress top that bared a shoulder with leggings and my stylish brown legboots. Lol I was thinking of heels, but then decided against it. haha.
So we walked all the way to the club and when we got there we found out they were playing hip hop and reggae!!! YESSSHHHH!!! I love it. We also had met up with Jonathon and his wife. So all the cool kids were there. All the guys were dressed up in button up shirts and nice pants. But the Japanese guys at the club were all just wearing sweatshirts and jeans and caps. lol Steph couldn`t get over that fact because back at home, the guys would totally be kicked out. lol =P I do like it when guys dress up nicer for clubbin. But it was pretty funny. The guys just wear their street clothes in. haha. The music was pretty good and we spotted these 3 girls who were damn good at dancing and figured that by the way they danced, they cannot possibly be from Japan. So i asked one girl with short hair and she said they were from Tokyo but originally came from New York. So that`s why! I fell in love with her. Seriously, she was so hot when she danced. Man. X3
At 5am our feet were dying and getting tired so we decided to go home. I crashed at Collin`s that night because I had no other place to stay. So thanks muchos Collin! Appreciation!
Next day, woke up at 10 checked out at 11 and decided to go eat at an awesome Indian restraunt with Nan and curry and then went shopping for a little bit. Then headed back home. Everyone was ready to pass out we were so freakin tired. lol
Nov. 6th Sunday
Stayed at home, found out my pipes froze and tried to unfreeze them. The temp in my apt was 1 degrees celsius. Wooo. lol So I ordered some delicious potato and cod roe pizza (which is seriously damn good) and stayed at home planning games and lesson plans for my elementary school kids. Fun day. lol Well actually it really was because I was able to talk with my love, Linda. I lurv you massly Lindas!
Nov. 7th Monday
I stocked myself up on coffee galore because I was still feeling the effects of the lack of sleep the entire time I was at the conference. Seriously, each night I only had at most 4 hours of sleep. And i always start my mondays with my super energetic little nursery babies which require all of your energy. Like crazy. Then after was the elementary 6th grade which also required a shit load of my energy. I seriuosly go crazy when I`m in school with the kids. I try to match with their energy and level of excitement so by the end of the day I`m ready to pass out. Waaaaa....But it`s always alot of funwith them. At the elementary today all my kids told me "Theresa-sensei daisuki!!!" which means I love you Ms. Theresa!! and gave me big hugs WAAHHH!! To which I responded back with equally large huggage. When the teachers told them that I will still be in the elementary when they go there, they were all like "yatta!" ^_^ woo children. And then at the elementary school, because I was super genki and super outgoing with the kids today, the kids fed off my energy and were excited for class. They loved me and loved talking to me. Yay!! Seriuosly, I had so many kids tell me they loved me today. I feel so special.
Nov. 8th Tuesday
Today was my BOE`s bounenkai which means end of the year party where they can forget all their troubles this year and look forward to the next year. It wasn`t terrible, but it wasn`t awesome. I just liked the sukiyaki they had. That was super good. I won bingo and got soba making basket things......And then went back home and had a good talk time with Su (my supervisor which I totally love and adore cuz she`s so awesome). We had a pretty hilarious conversation. XD Anyways,
Otsukare-sama for reading all. And be prepared for 300 or so pics to be up by this weekend. For sure! Love you all. I think I need to hold back on the coffee drinking. But without it, I`m unable to give enough energy to the kids in my elementary. soooo tired.....
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