March 17th Wednesday
I waited today for Mr. Wonderful`s text message, but nothing came. So I`m assuming that he either forgot about it and was too busy or he didn`t want to eat with me. Ah well, I wasn`t too bummed about it. I had taiko practice today, so I put all my passion into it. Next Tuesday is my taiko debut at an elderly care center playing alongside my elementary babies. haha. Yay!
March 18th Thursday
Today was big setting up for the graduation ceremony for the 6th graders at the elementary. Again, I had no classes at the high school, so I stayed at the elementary the whole day. =P After school was over and everything, all the teachers went to the gym to help set up. I went as well. There were so many flowers, a red carpet, and a huge backdrop of sakura trees. So pretty!
So, obviously, Mr. Wonderful was there helping as well. Though I minded my own business, I still couldn`t help but look at him. lol As I was helping with putting the graduation banners against some tables I had to move the craftwork that the kids made that were on the table. Mr. Wonderful was on the total opposite side of me with many other teachers in between us, but then he came over right next to me, right where I was working at the other end and started moving the stuff with me. It was the first time in a long time that he actually got that close to me. I originally thought that he was ignoring/avoiding me so I didn`t give him too much thought before since he hasn`t really been talking to me, but when he came so close to me-like serious, it was close, our shoulders were kinda touching, or rather my shoulder to his biceps..lol he`s tall- I kinda was taken off guard. I was not prepared for him to be so close to me. And I wondered why exactly he came over here when he was at the other end fixing up things over there. Still a mystery to me, but I did get a lil nervous, even after my whole confidence burst thing.
One assumption I`d like to make about this action is that maybe he found out where he`s placed so maybe he knows that it`s nearby so he doesn`t mind striking up a friendlier relationship. Maybe because, originally, he didn`t want to talk to me too much or become friends with me too much because he was going to move soon, and he wasn`t sure how far away he would be going to. He doesn`t want to make ties and then have to cut them. But I found out after asking him later that he`s actually just in the city next to my town. So only 15 minutes away. YES! Close! So maybe that`s why he`s nicer and doesn`t mind getting close to me now. I could be wrong and it`s just nothing.
So he would reach right across from me to move things, so his arm is like right in front of my chest and he`d lean over just a little. I wasn`t sure what to make of it, but I kept my cool and went about my work, hardly talking to him. (playin hard to get =P) Later when I was walking with Yuki and he was behind us, I decided to take the oppurtunity to talk to him and ask him about dinner/lunch plans. He said he was still busy and he hasn`t emailed me about it yet. So...yeah, nothing for that night. Boo...ah well.
March 19th Friday
6th grade graduation ceremony. I was supposed to go to the middle school this day, but I ended up going to elementary all day today because of the graduation. I got to see all my kids in their new middle school uniforms. I was so proud of them, like a motbher would be. They were growing up, and those uniforms were the beginning of their maturity. When I got there, I once again, missed the picture opp. The ceremony was even more serious than the middle school one. I`d say that the middle school one was really casual compared to this one. All the graduating kids, upon entering, had to bow once and walk to their chair, then walk on the red carpet slowly and deliberately, stand a certain lenght away from each other while walking, and then rise up the stairs to the stage slowly and with care, bow once to the principal, bow again after getting their certificate, walk to the other stairs, make a little comment of appreciation and what they want to work on in middle school, get down the stairs, bow to the teachers, bow to the PTA, bow to their parents, give the diploma to them, bow again, and walk back to their seats. (whew! saying all that was tiring actually) No smiling or anything like that. Just straight faces. It was total opposite of an American graduation. But then again, we don`t really hold grad ceremonies for elementary kids. I wasn`t sure how i liked it though. It was moving because each of the younger grades sang a song for them and made a speech, and by the end of it, all the 6th grade kids were crying. Dude, it`s just elementary too. There`s still the another 6 years before graduating high school. THat`s when the tears really come in.
Anyways the ceremony was long, but it was moving. After that there was the party at Lakeside Sakuraoka. That was awesome! The mom`s all did a dance performance for the kids, the Dads all did one too to Arashi, and the teachers did the awkward Pirameita dance. haha. Mr. Wonderful looked sooo cute in it. And he was wearing a tight white shirt that showed off his muscles in the totally right way. >D At the end all the kids gave us flowers. I got two bouquets! Whoo. After that, we all went back to the school to clean up. There were so many extra flowers left over so we were able to pick and choose a crap load of flowers to take home.
I was then invited to dinner with the elementary teachers at 5pm at the local izakaya. Awesome. I picked up Yuki around that time and we both went there together. At the izakaya, I was hoping to maybe sit next to Mr. Wonderful, but he didn`t come until late and we came early so our seats were at the end of the tables. But there were only a total of 8 people, so it wasn`t bad. He actually talked to me a lot and this is were I learned about where he was going to be placed. His English is wonderful, so we tried to talk in English alot. After this we went to the nijikai at another izakaya opened until late into the evening.
There we met the PTA parents all being rowdy and loud cuz they were all drunk. haha. And, by luck, because I came later then the other teachers, I was able to sit next to Mr. Wonderful. Man, he looked so good today with his black fitted jacket and black jeans. Although his shirt was something else...lol So maybe because of the alcohol and rowdy atmosphere he became really animated in talking to me. He used English most of the time with me and talked about alot of stuff. I was so ecstatic to be able to talk to him like this, and best of all, I didn`t lose my cool. hehe. So this is where I decided to sell my qualities to him. haha. He has a lot of the same interests as me, but I don`t think he knows or really remembers.
So first off, I asked him what his hobbies and stuff were. Just really basic questions. He likes cooking (always a hot plus) and bird watching. He really really likes birds. They`re his favorite animal and his hobby. He can tell what the bird`s species is just by looking at them! That`s amazing. He told me that when he studied nature, there were different subjects that he could choose from: plants, flowers (at which I gave a pleasant exclamation because I studied them), animals, birds, etc., of which he chose birds. I told him that I studied flowers in high school, which was the truth. I had to do a plant project so I logged flowers that I would find while treking through forests and and dry them. I quite liked it because I enjoy walking through forests and adventures. When I told him all that he was really surprised. lol I guess he tried to test my knowledge of flowers by asking what flower do I like. I figured if I said "rose" or "tulip" that would just be too boring and common. So I chose the California Poppy, although I like hydrangeas and hibiscuses better. He had never heard of it, which was good because I was able to show him my knowledge of some basic flowers, and asked me to describe it. Then he stopped and looked at me and was like, "I like poppies." lol
He also said he likes camping, to which I was also pretty ecstatic about. I told him I used to do it quite alot. I did more hiking than camping, but I did do a little of the latter. He was also really quite surprised to hear that. He just looked at me and was like, "OMG, really?" and then said "ii desu ne!" And we carried on a pretty good conversation with that. He told me that most Japanese people don`t really go camping and it`s rare to do so. So I told him if he could please tell me the next time he went camping and he said that he totally will. YAY!!! I think I`ve gotten him somewhat interested in me, somehow. Maybe it was the alcohol talking and I hope he remembers what we talked about. I don`t want to bet that it was my charm working on him because i`m sure the alcohol did help in him loosening up to talk to me. The atmosphre was prime for fun talking too.
It was really quite loud in the place because all the Mom`s were singing and dancing and just being crazy...lol So, when Mr. Wonderful was talking to me we had to get really close to hear each other so that our bodies were basically touching. It didn`t feel awkward or suspicious doing any of that because of the atmosphere. lol I felt quite happy with that. haha. I figured this was my chance to ask him for his phone info, but since he couldn`t really remember his mail address I then asked him if he had his cell with him. He said he left it at home and forgot to bring it which was entirely possible. So I just asked him for his phone number. He did his best, after drinking so much alcohol, to tell it to me. And I was just only going to type in his last name with a sensei tacked onto it, but then he told me that his first name was "Tatsuya" and to type that in. I was quite elated. I was like wow, you`re telling me your first name too? Hopefully, he really meant to give me his phone number and it`s not fake. Well, the only way to find out is to call him.
After he talked to me at the sofa area he decided to go to the bar and drink with the male teachers until he fell asleep. I could tell from when we were talking he was already quite tired. We woke him up later to leave and I offered to take him home along with Yuki and 2 other male teahcers that live in the same area. He sat in the front seat with me. heehee. When I stopped to drop them all off in a general surrounding area of where their apts. were all located he was the last to get out. I believe that he waited until everyone else got out of the car and then got out after. I don`t know if maybe he was just really tired or planned it that way, but when he got out of the car he looked at me with a very soft sweet look and said "See you." I replied the same back, but with a little flutter in my stomach. The way he said it was just so sweet and different from the other times. And it`s the first time he`s ever said "see you" to me.
That night, I went home quite happy and sure that I somehow made an impression on him of some sort. Or at least I hope I did. And that last "see you" was wonderous. I really hope that we can continue on to be better friends, and maybe something more. Right now, I`m just content with being friends with him. That`s all I want right now. If something happens later on that`s even better, then great. If not, I won`t be too sad.
Otsukare! Love you all and thanks for giving me the confidence to do all this! I love my friends and family!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A Me That I Thought I Had Lost.
March 13 Saturday
So today I was invited out by Alan to go with him, Megan, and 2 other Asahikawa ALTs to go out for dinner. I spent the day doing absolutely nothing except lounge around and watch TV and eating...lol But at around 6pm I left my place to drive to Asahikawa to meet them. Well, it was blizzarding outside and I couldn`t see the road...so it wasn`t the most pleasant drive. But I got there safely, picked up Alan, and went to go meet the other girls at the train station. So we all piled into my little car-I`m assuming it was a lil tight in the back seat lol-and decided to go eat some soup curry.
OMG, this was like the best soup curry I`ve ever had. It was so delicious and wonderful and freakin spicy. It was so spicy I immediately started sweating upon having 2 spoons of it. lol But delicious regardless. I also really liked the decor. It had a bunch of post war memorabilia, like posters of old movies, bottle caps, and candy wrappers hung on the walls. It was so cute! The outside of it though looked just like a house. Like, seriously, it was even in the smack dab middle of the residential area. When my friends was trying to guide me to it, I was like..."Are you sure it`s here? Cuz it looks like it`s all just houses..." lol And it would not be allowed in the states. haha. But it was delicious and we had a grand old time of it.
Afterwards we went to karaoke at Oedo. And it was packed with people that night. But we managed to get a small room with the TV really close to us and with awesome decor. The interior looked like the set of an sci-fi action movie. The walls looked like they were made of grey rock tiles screwed in by large screws. The wall which held the TV actually had a black fence that kept you away from the strange mechanisms and electric wires on the other side. And there was an emergeny door that had caution tapes haphazardly pasted every where on it. We were, however, wondering if that was actually for real or if it just goes with the decor. But it was sooo cool! I love karaoke in Japan. haha.
We sang until midnight and I dropped everyone off and decided to head on home....at like 2am. Not so smart of me as I should have stayed at Alan`s and spent the night there instead of driving an hour in the blizzard home. I was already starting to feel sleepy halfway home and I was in a state of barely consciousness. In between heavy half-lidded eyes I could see that my car was drifting towards the left side a little. When I made myself fully conscious again I realized I was coming on to a snow covered side walk very fast. My car bumped up on to the sidewalk fast enough to cause my little kei (super light) car to almost flip over. And it freaked the hell out of me. But I was able to get it back onto the main road without any further incidences. Needless to say, that woke me up and I didn`t lose consciousness for the rest of the way home...=P
March 14th Sunday
Happy White Day!! Although I forgot to give people chocolate on Valentine`s day so I`m not expecting anything. haha.
March 15th Monday
Last day teaching my Sakura-gumi 5-6 year old babies. I love these kids and will miss being able to teach them because I don`t teach 1st or 2nd grade kids. Only 3rd and up. So I just basically played alot of games with them. That`s all I did with them that day. haha. Then, despite not having class at the elementary that day I still went and just sat in the teacher`s lounge minding my own work. However, at around 3pm, all the teachers and the 5th graders all gathered in the gym to help setup for the graduation ceremony this coming friday. It was actually pretty fun to work with everybody. But kinda tiring and my arms got a pretty good workout from carrying 4 heavy chairs (the kind you can fold up to put away to save space) down from the second floor to the gym about 3 times. The walk`s quite far and the chairs were really heavy. My biceps were pretty sore afterwards. =P
I was also able to see Mr. Wonderful. Although we didn`t really talk too much because we were both busy helping the kids setup stuff. Although in the end when he came closer to me after we all finished with our work and the kids went home, I asked him about his cell email address. I couldn`t send him a message because it didn`t work. He said, "Yappari, it was a hypen and not an underscore..." I told him that it was okay and to just tell me his email when he can. He said he couldn`t go out to dinner tonight either, even though I didn`t ask him that. But I could tell he was sorry. I took it really casually and just told him it`s no problem.
Actually, I`ve been feeling pretty casual about the whole thing lately and my confidence in myself has gone up. I no longer flutter and forget things when I`m around him and am able to speak properly and with strength in my voice (not the meek lil thing that I do around Japanese people). It`s all thanks to my wonderful friends` support and belief in who I really am that I feel super proud to be the me I am now. So in my mind and heart, when I`m talking to people now, I talk with confidence and strength and pride. I like who I am, and if other people don`t like me for myself, then they`re not people I need to focus on or particularly befriend. So same goes for Mr. Wonderful. As great and wonderous as he is, if he doesn`t like me for me then I was not meant to date him. Even if he rejects me when I confess, I feel like it`s not going to be so bad because it just meant that he`s not the guy for me at the moment and I`ll either find someone better or there might be a chance with him in the future if I can stay friends with him. So yeah.
March 16th Tuesday
Today I just spent the whole day at the elementary school, playing with my kids and making cookies, cakes, donuts, pudding with my 6th graders. Today was their mini at school graduation party. They invited all the teachers to the music room and had tables and chairs set up with all the amazing sweets that these kids had made on top. It was so much fun and the sweets were delicious. I was so proud of them. The kids sang a very cute song at the end and the kids were so funny too. Loved them, but then again, they`re wonderful like that every day.
After all that was over and I went back to the teacher`s lounge and then I decided to go find Mr. Wonderful to address the not being able to message him and whether or not he would like to have dinner Wednesday night. So I went into his classroom with assurity and confidence and genkiness and was able to talk to him normally, like I talk with my friends. I spoke to him mainly in English, so here we go: "Mr. Wonderful? Sorry for interrupting you, but are you still okay for dinner Wednesday night?" "Ah, that`s right. Hmm...." (he was trying to figure out if Wednesday was ok or not) Me: "You still don`t know yet?" "Yeah, sorry." "No problem. Hmm...how about if you message me about tomorrow whether you can or not? And if you are too busy tomorrow night then we can always go for lunch on a weekend or something. Just message me about it." "Oh okay! Oh, but could you write down your cell email address again? I`m sorry, but I lost it." "Yeah sure!" (He handed me a piece of paper to write on and we were silent for a while as I wrote.) I told him, "I tried messaging you, but it didn`t go through last time." "Oh yes, then it really must`ve been wrong then. Sorry about that." "No worries. So if you can email me, then I can just find your address via that." "Yeah, I will. My email address starts with a `maestro` so when you see that, it`s from me." "Alright! Then I will wait for that email. Thank you!" "You`re welcome." And I turned and walked out of the classroom.
I have to say, I felt pretty good with that convo because I was able to talk to him without blanking out for the first time and with casuality. haha. =P Now, whether he actually texts me about dinner Wednesday night is another thing. He might pull a "Oh sorry, I was busy and was unable to go out and kind of forgot to message you" on me and then I think I might get the hint from that, although I dislike it when people keep postponing things instead of directly saying "I don`t want to go." It may sound like you`re being nice, but trust me, it actually hurts more than saying it directly because one keeps hoping instead of knowing.
So after that I went to the nurse`s office to chat with the nurse (not Yuki, but equally wonderful to talk to) I got roped in to helping her finish her graduation banner for the 6th graders. Actually, 10 minutes in to helping her she said she had to leave and asked if I could just do what I can and continue cutting the paper sakura and pasting them onto the banner. I like arts and crafts stuff, so I was more than happy to help. But then I realized afterwards that I think I might`ve been used. haha. I knew she wanted to go home, but couldn`t until she did majority of the banner. So she left the rest up to me. haha. I didn`t mind, I actually thought it was funny. Yuki was going to help me as well, but ended up having to go home early so wasn`t able to help at all. haha. She apologized though. =P So in the end, it was just me in the nurse`s office on my own cutting 50 something sakura flowers and pasting them on to the banner. Actually originally I was cutting them one by one, then thought what a waste of time it was to cut them one by one like that, so folded up all the paper and cut out about 100 of them after 6 cuts. Then pasted, and finished within an hour, whereas I think it would`ve taken me 3 hours without the folding....lol
Tonight was the BOE casual dinner at the best BBQ/Yakinku place in town. I got there right on time, thinking I`d be late. And I get there, and no one`s there....But after a little bit my predecessor came in and the others soon followed. (My pred`s here for a week and actually left this [Wednesday] morning). We had a wonderful and super fun dinner that lasted quite a while. Then afterwarads went to go to the bar next to me apt for drinking and karaoke. That was hilarious actually. The guys started dancing to songs and singing all weird and then everyone tried to translate the song as we sang...that was pretty funny. Anyways, a good night, but I smell like Yakinku and cigarettes...eww... I need to wash my jacket somehow...get rid of the smell. >.<
So here`s to hoping that Mr. Wonderful will somehow contact me about dinner or lunch or something. And then I can finally know what`s going on. If not, then maybe he`s not the guy I`m supposed to date...heh.
Otsukare for reading!
So today I was invited out by Alan to go with him, Megan, and 2 other Asahikawa ALTs to go out for dinner. I spent the day doing absolutely nothing except lounge around and watch TV and eating...lol But at around 6pm I left my place to drive to Asahikawa to meet them. Well, it was blizzarding outside and I couldn`t see the road...so it wasn`t the most pleasant drive. But I got there safely, picked up Alan, and went to go meet the other girls at the train station. So we all piled into my little car-I`m assuming it was a lil tight in the back seat lol-and decided to go eat some soup curry.
OMG, this was like the best soup curry I`ve ever had. It was so delicious and wonderful and freakin spicy. It was so spicy I immediately started sweating upon having 2 spoons of it. lol But delicious regardless. I also really liked the decor. It had a bunch of post war memorabilia, like posters of old movies, bottle caps, and candy wrappers hung on the walls. It was so cute! The outside of it though looked just like a house. Like, seriously, it was even in the smack dab middle of the residential area. When my friends was trying to guide me to it, I was like..."Are you sure it`s here? Cuz it looks like it`s all just houses..." lol And it would not be allowed in the states. haha. But it was delicious and we had a grand old time of it.
Afterwards we went to karaoke at Oedo. And it was packed with people that night. But we managed to get a small room with the TV really close to us and with awesome decor. The interior looked like the set of an sci-fi action movie. The walls looked like they were made of grey rock tiles screwed in by large screws. The wall which held the TV actually had a black fence that kept you away from the strange mechanisms and electric wires on the other side. And there was an emergeny door that had caution tapes haphazardly pasted every where on it. We were, however, wondering if that was actually for real or if it just goes with the decor. But it was sooo cool! I love karaoke in Japan. haha.
We sang until midnight and I dropped everyone off and decided to head on home....at like 2am. Not so smart of me as I should have stayed at Alan`s and spent the night there instead of driving an hour in the blizzard home. I was already starting to feel sleepy halfway home and I was in a state of barely consciousness. In between heavy half-lidded eyes I could see that my car was drifting towards the left side a little. When I made myself fully conscious again I realized I was coming on to a snow covered side walk very fast. My car bumped up on to the sidewalk fast enough to cause my little kei (super light) car to almost flip over. And it freaked the hell out of me. But I was able to get it back onto the main road without any further incidences. Needless to say, that woke me up and I didn`t lose consciousness for the rest of the way home...=P
March 14th Sunday
Happy White Day!! Although I forgot to give people chocolate on Valentine`s day so I`m not expecting anything. haha.
March 15th Monday
Last day teaching my Sakura-gumi 5-6 year old babies. I love these kids and will miss being able to teach them because I don`t teach 1st or 2nd grade kids. Only 3rd and up. So I just basically played alot of games with them. That`s all I did with them that day. haha. Then, despite not having class at the elementary that day I still went and just sat in the teacher`s lounge minding my own work. However, at around 3pm, all the teachers and the 5th graders all gathered in the gym to help setup for the graduation ceremony this coming friday. It was actually pretty fun to work with everybody. But kinda tiring and my arms got a pretty good workout from carrying 4 heavy chairs (the kind you can fold up to put away to save space) down from the second floor to the gym about 3 times. The walk`s quite far and the chairs were really heavy. My biceps were pretty sore afterwards. =P
I was also able to see Mr. Wonderful. Although we didn`t really talk too much because we were both busy helping the kids setup stuff. Although in the end when he came closer to me after we all finished with our work and the kids went home, I asked him about his cell email address. I couldn`t send him a message because it didn`t work. He said, "Yappari, it was a hypen and not an underscore..." I told him that it was okay and to just tell me his email when he can. He said he couldn`t go out to dinner tonight either, even though I didn`t ask him that. But I could tell he was sorry. I took it really casually and just told him it`s no problem.
Actually, I`ve been feeling pretty casual about the whole thing lately and my confidence in myself has gone up. I no longer flutter and forget things when I`m around him and am able to speak properly and with strength in my voice (not the meek lil thing that I do around Japanese people). It`s all thanks to my wonderful friends` support and belief in who I really am that I feel super proud to be the me I am now. So in my mind and heart, when I`m talking to people now, I talk with confidence and strength and pride. I like who I am, and if other people don`t like me for myself, then they`re not people I need to focus on or particularly befriend. So same goes for Mr. Wonderful. As great and wonderous as he is, if he doesn`t like me for me then I was not meant to date him. Even if he rejects me when I confess, I feel like it`s not going to be so bad because it just meant that he`s not the guy for me at the moment and I`ll either find someone better or there might be a chance with him in the future if I can stay friends with him. So yeah.
March 16th Tuesday
Today I just spent the whole day at the elementary school, playing with my kids and making cookies, cakes, donuts, pudding with my 6th graders. Today was their mini at school graduation party. They invited all the teachers to the music room and had tables and chairs set up with all the amazing sweets that these kids had made on top. It was so much fun and the sweets were delicious. I was so proud of them. The kids sang a very cute song at the end and the kids were so funny too. Loved them, but then again, they`re wonderful like that every day.
After all that was over and I went back to the teacher`s lounge and then I decided to go find Mr. Wonderful to address the not being able to message him and whether or not he would like to have dinner Wednesday night. So I went into his classroom with assurity and confidence and genkiness and was able to talk to him normally, like I talk with my friends. I spoke to him mainly in English, so here we go: "Mr. Wonderful? Sorry for interrupting you, but are you still okay for dinner Wednesday night?" "Ah, that`s right. Hmm...." (he was trying to figure out if Wednesday was ok or not) Me: "You still don`t know yet?" "Yeah, sorry." "No problem. Hmm...how about if you message me about tomorrow whether you can or not? And if you are too busy tomorrow night then we can always go for lunch on a weekend or something. Just message me about it." "Oh okay! Oh, but could you write down your cell email address again? I`m sorry, but I lost it." "Yeah sure!" (He handed me a piece of paper to write on and we were silent for a while as I wrote.) I told him, "I tried messaging you, but it didn`t go through last time." "Oh yes, then it really must`ve been wrong then. Sorry about that." "No worries. So if you can email me, then I can just find your address via that." "Yeah, I will. My email address starts with a `maestro` so when you see that, it`s from me." "Alright! Then I will wait for that email. Thank you!" "You`re welcome." And I turned and walked out of the classroom.
I have to say, I felt pretty good with that convo because I was able to talk to him without blanking out for the first time and with casuality. haha. =P Now, whether he actually texts me about dinner Wednesday night is another thing. He might pull a "Oh sorry, I was busy and was unable to go out and kind of forgot to message you" on me and then I think I might get the hint from that, although I dislike it when people keep postponing things instead of directly saying "I don`t want to go." It may sound like you`re being nice, but trust me, it actually hurts more than saying it directly because one keeps hoping instead of knowing.
So after that I went to the nurse`s office to chat with the nurse (not Yuki, but equally wonderful to talk to) I got roped in to helping her finish her graduation banner for the 6th graders. Actually, 10 minutes in to helping her she said she had to leave and asked if I could just do what I can and continue cutting the paper sakura and pasting them onto the banner. I like arts and crafts stuff, so I was more than happy to help. But then I realized afterwards that I think I might`ve been used. haha. I knew she wanted to go home, but couldn`t until she did majority of the banner. So she left the rest up to me. haha. I didn`t mind, I actually thought it was funny. Yuki was going to help me as well, but ended up having to go home early so wasn`t able to help at all. haha. She apologized though. =P So in the end, it was just me in the nurse`s office on my own cutting 50 something sakura flowers and pasting them on to the banner. Actually originally I was cutting them one by one, then thought what a waste of time it was to cut them one by one like that, so folded up all the paper and cut out about 100 of them after 6 cuts. Then pasted, and finished within an hour, whereas I think it would`ve taken me 3 hours without the folding....lol
Tonight was the BOE casual dinner at the best BBQ/Yakinku place in town. I got there right on time, thinking I`d be late. And I get there, and no one`s there....But after a little bit my predecessor came in and the others soon followed. (My pred`s here for a week and actually left this [Wednesday] morning). We had a wonderful and super fun dinner that lasted quite a while. Then afterwarads went to go to the bar next to me apt for drinking and karaoke. That was hilarious actually. The guys started dancing to songs and singing all weird and then everyone tried to translate the song as we sang...that was pretty funny. Anyways, a good night, but I smell like Yakinku and cigarettes...eww... I need to wash my jacket somehow...get rid of the smell. >.<
So here`s to hoping that Mr. Wonderful will somehow contact me about dinner or lunch or something. And then I can finally know what`s going on. If not, then maybe he`s not the guy I`m supposed to date...heh.
Otsukare for reading!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
What should I be feeling...?
March 5 Friday
So today at the middle school was pretty fun. After lunch was over, all the students gathered in the gym for a game to play in honor of the 3rd years graduating. I wasn`t exactly sure what game we were playing, but I just followed along. It seems that the students have a time limit to find all the pictures that are hidden throughout the school. Once that 1st time limit is up, then they send a certain amount of people who are the "oni" or those who are "it" out to catch the other students. They`re allowed to go hide and stuff throughout the school, but they cannot run, so they speedwalk. lol It was pretty funny to see. haha. Anyways, after that game they then had to do a triatholon in which they played mini games of ping pong, basketball, and group jump rope.
March 6th and 7th Saturday and Sunday
Saturday, went to Asahikawa to have an awesome lunch with Su. We drove around awhile looking for a good place to go eat and decided to eat at this place called "Kankoku-mura" which means Korean village. And it was the first time, in a long time (say a year) that I had real Korean food and not just Japanese bibimbap (which btw, they think is Chinese.....>.<) or kimchi or kalbi/bulgogi. It was soooo good! The place was even decorated Korean style and everything. I hardcore missed sundubu and they totally had it there! Yes! Although I still really miss Irvine`s sundubu/Korean restaurants. Even more then that, I miss Korea, my other homeland aside from US, Taiwan, and Japan. haha. We talked for several hours and then went to go get my back breaklight fixed because the one on the left had gone out. Then went home to do absolutely nothing.
Sunday was just talking with family (which they are planning on coming here in the summer! Yay!) and cleaning the house.
March 10 Wednesday
Wow. So this day was the middle school 3rd years (9th graders) graduation. And it was so formal and very Japanesey. lol Well, first off, when I went into the teacher`s office all the teachers were wearing black. Just all black; black suits, black dresses, black shoes, black purses. And I was the only one who had a navy blue suit jacket with really thin white stripes and a red tank top underneath. I felt like I had walked into a funeral procession of sorts. So I asked one of the teachers here if I should also be in all black, but she says that I`m fine and that for happy celebrations like this Japanese people always wear black. Err...ok. o.O
Anyways, my predecessor also came to the celebration. He flew here from the states a couple of days ago to come see the 3rd years graduate since he was with them the longest. I think that maybe he secretly came to see his girlfriend who was a teacher at the middle school.......=P I was actually slightly, slightly late for the ceremony. All because I forgot my schedule book in the staff room so I had to run back from the gym to get it. eheh. But I still made it on time before the 3rd years came walking in and the band started playing the graduation song. There was so much bowing and strict formal tradition in this whole process. The students have to have a very good posture while walking to their seats or walking up to the stage/podium to accept their certificate from the principal. Bow once before the principle, accept the certificate, step back, bow again, take one step back and turn to face the audience, walk down the stairs, bow to the BOE on the opposite side of the teachers, walk to their parents (where a little white table was set up where the parents go up to the table when their child comes), bow to their parents, hand over the certificate to them, bow again, and walk with good posture back to their seats... I was quite surprised actually. But amazed at the good discipline of these kids.
Then afterwards, when the 3rd year students` representatives, one boy and one girl, came to the front to give a speech to everyone, it was the most heartwrenching sobfest ever! Because this is a small school and there is only 1 class for every grade level (no 3A, 3B, 3C. Just 3A cuz there`s not that many students that they all fit in one class), and because they`ve all been together for 9 years of their lives never changing classes and some have been together since preschool, this is the first time that they will be seperated from each other. All the students are going to different high schools as all the high schools here are like specialty schools. My best English speaking student is going all the way to Sapporo in the best language school there. So, because this is the first time they`re going to be leaving each other, they have so much precious memories together, that everyone started crying. The students made a speech to thank all the teachers, all the younger students, and lastly, their precious classmates. I told myself I wasn`t going to cry, but I ended up doing so. It was just so touching. I felt like this was an US high school graduation where that was the final stage for everyone leaving each other and going to different schools/countries.
After the speech, the 3rd years sang a chorus song for everyone. They had one student come play the piano and one student conduct. Now, everyone was still crying/sniffling from the speech and one of the boys, the conductor, was red from crying and couldn`t stop sniffling really. So when he got up there, he tried to look strong and hold it all back, but as soon as the song started because it was such a sad sounding song and to look at all your friends crying, he couldn`t hold it in any longer and tears started pouring from his face, yet he still conducted wonderfully. He actually had to close his eyes for a while because he couldn`t stop crying. It was, seriously, one of the most touching and heartbreaking graduation ceremonies I`ve ever been to. When asked later by my teachers about how was a Japanese graduation compared to American ones, I said that the American ones are usually a big celebration and everyone`s just ridiculously happy and having fun, especially college ones. The high school one is probably the only really tearing one because that`s when everyone really seperates. But middle school was never that bad. But then again, most schools in America are big and graduating classes are about 300 and more students. This school only had 25 students graduating. Yeah, the whole 3rd year (9th grade) consists of only 25 students.
After the sobfest, the students and their parents went to the Lakeside Sakuraoka hotel to have a party. The teachers also all went. It was a buffet style lunch, which was absolutely delicious, and then the kids all performed songs and just had fun. Then the MC called up all the teachers to make speeches. I was last and I was ready to give a good speech in English. It was simple slow English so that everyone, even the parents who have not studied English in forever can understand. Although i got a bit excited. haha. I started out with "minna (everyone) CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!" Everyone thought I was going to speak Japanese, but I busted out the English. heh. At the congratulations part all my students whooped and clapped and yelled. And I couldn`t help it, I got caught up in their enthusiasm, and let my American self go and also whooooooooooooo-ed into the mic. ehehe. I`m sure the other teachers were a little taken aback. But the kids were all for it. haha. I told them "your English is very good! So in high school, good luck! I believe in you. You can do it! Yes, you can!" And my students whooped again after that. And then I realized afterwards, oh, maybe I shouldn`t have did the whoop thing, cuz that might`ve scared the other teachers for a little bit. ehehe. Ah well, I`m American, let them just think that. Or at least I hope they`ll think that. ~_~;
After the ceremony we all went home and went to ponder about how I`m going to confess to Mr. Wonderful. I had already decided that I will confess to him on Wednesday night because that is the only night that I believe he will be alone in the classroom. Thursday night there will be other teachers there till late in the evening, and Friday night, he probably goes home early. So I decided to go at around 8pm. I went over there and saw that there were still 3 other cars there. So I went back home and decided to come over at 9pm, other teachers were still there. Went back home again, tried 10pm, and there was still at least one teacher there. So in the end after driving around for another 10 minutes I decided that I would just go in there, ask him to come out to talk in the hallway and confess to him there, as awkward and weird as it may be to the other teacher there. I got there ready to do it, then discovered that the lights were all off and all the cars were gone. *sigh* I had missed him by a couple of minutes. And I was so ready too....>.<; Man. I was thinking to myself how bad everything is turning out and decided to go home dejectedly.
At home, after having a good long talk with Collin about this mess, getting a guys POV, it made better sense to me to ask Mr. Wonderful out to dinner first before confessing. It`s better to confess in not a work environment. At school, it would be kind of awkward. Even though I would never really do that because I`m not really aggressive and I don`t like to take the initiative with a guy. But if I don`t, I won`t get my chance. And plus, he`s a Japanese guy, so unfortunately, being the foreign girl, I have to take the initiative... So I decided to do just that the next day.
March 11th Thursday
Well, I waited until the end of the day after 5th period to walk into his classroom to ask him to dinner. I was kind of nervous, but not as nervous as I was when I went to ask about the snowboard. I felt kind of....complacent..? Anyways, I walked in there, and as soon as I did, I forgot what I was going to say. And then I just stood there after saying hello to him and was like "oh no, I forgot what I was going to say...uh, hold on." And then finally was able to ask him about where he got placed in for his next school. He still doesn`t know yet apparetnly. Then I asked him are you always here until 9 or 10 at night which he says, "yes, just about every night." "Well then, what do you do about food?" "I go home to eat it afterwards." "At 10 at night?!!" "Yes. haha" "WOW." "Well, hmm...If you`re okay with it, how about dinner sometime? Maybe tonight? Or tomorrow?" "Uh, I`m pretty busy these last few days because of the graduation ceremonies coming up and everything." "Oh, yes, I understand. Then maybe next week? Monday?" "Mondays are not the best for me, tuesdays too. But maybe Wednesday might be ok." "Oh, alrgith then. Well, how about we exchange cell phone mail so that we can message each other a good time for it?" "Oh, yeah, sure that`d be fine."
So we exchanged cell phone mail addresses, but he said that his might be wrong because it`s so long that he can`t really remember it all himself. And indeed it was quite long. But he said that if it`s wrong and after he checks his email he`ll tell me again. Because neither of us had our phones on us since they were all in the staff room and we were in his classroom. So we chatted for 5 more minutes or so and then I told him I will text him and said thank you and left.
After school was over I went to the large playroom to see what my friend Yuki was doing. Her and my favorite "Winnie the Pooh-Kitagawa-sensei" and Mr. Wonderful were mixing paint to color the 6th grade graduation banner with. So I decided to help out to which Kitagawa-sensei was more than delighted. I love this man, my fav teacher here. SOOO Cute. Like a bear, and his voice sounds like Pooh too. heheh.^^ Well, he then left to go to do some other errands, and so it was jut me and the other two. I love chatting with Yuki because she`s so much fun and outgoing and happy and just a great gal all around. And it seems that Mr. Wonderful does too. He really liked to chat with her. All I could do, because I`m not yet fluent in Japanese, and it was difficult to hear everything spoken in normal speed Japanese, was just sit there, nod and occasionally laugh at their comments. I couldn`t really say anythnig because I wasn`t sure what they were saying. I did ask some questions but there were mainly about vocab and what the subject that they were talking about. It`s difficult to grasp subjects in japanese as they don`t really say them sometimes....
So after seeing them go at it with a wonderful fun time conversation, I realized how pitiful my Japanese level was and how inept at conversation I was in it. And how I could never have as lively a conversation as they could have together. He really laughed alot and had fun talking with her. And maybe, I got a sense that he might be into her. Maybe. I`m not sure, but judging by how wonderful the two of them seemed to go together and their convo, I`d say the two might do better together than I would, and that maybe he liked her. *sigh* I don`t know.
At the end of the day before I went home, I didn`t feel excited or exhilarated or accomplished at asking him out to dinner. I just felt....normal. I had a Parent-child English conversation class to do that night and it was the last of this year`s, so I focused on doing that. We made peanut butter balls and grilled cheese sandwiches. The kids had so much fun makin the peanut butter balls because you have to use your hands. And the moms loved the grilled cheese sandwiches. My kids said that they loved my class and they wanted to have more with me. When I told them no more, they were all pretty sad. Aww. I love my children. I think that maybe I should channel my love for Mr. Wonderful into the love that I have for these kids. It would maybe be put to better use instead of this futile lovesick feeling that might not amount to anything. Le sigh.
Otsukare for reading guys! Pics will be up later on. Love
So today at the middle school was pretty fun. After lunch was over, all the students gathered in the gym for a game to play in honor of the 3rd years graduating. I wasn`t exactly sure what game we were playing, but I just followed along. It seems that the students have a time limit to find all the pictures that are hidden throughout the school. Once that 1st time limit is up, then they send a certain amount of people who are the "oni" or those who are "it" out to catch the other students. They`re allowed to go hide and stuff throughout the school, but they cannot run, so they speedwalk. lol It was pretty funny to see. haha. Anyways, after that game they then had to do a triatholon in which they played mini games of ping pong, basketball, and group jump rope.
March 6th and 7th Saturday and Sunday
Saturday, went to Asahikawa to have an awesome lunch with Su. We drove around awhile looking for a good place to go eat and decided to eat at this place called "Kankoku-mura" which means Korean village. And it was the first time, in a long time (say a year) that I had real Korean food and not just Japanese bibimbap (which btw, they think is Chinese.....>.<) or kimchi or kalbi/bulgogi. It was soooo good! The place was even decorated Korean style and everything. I hardcore missed sundubu and they totally had it there! Yes! Although I still really miss Irvine`s sundubu/Korean restaurants. Even more then that, I miss Korea, my other homeland aside from US, Taiwan, and Japan. haha. We talked for several hours and then went to go get my back breaklight fixed because the one on the left had gone out. Then went home to do absolutely nothing.
Sunday was just talking with family (which they are planning on coming here in the summer! Yay!) and cleaning the house.
March 10 Wednesday
Wow. So this day was the middle school 3rd years (9th graders) graduation. And it was so formal and very Japanesey. lol Well, first off, when I went into the teacher`s office all the teachers were wearing black. Just all black; black suits, black dresses, black shoes, black purses. And I was the only one who had a navy blue suit jacket with really thin white stripes and a red tank top underneath. I felt like I had walked into a funeral procession of sorts. So I asked one of the teachers here if I should also be in all black, but she says that I`m fine and that for happy celebrations like this Japanese people always wear black. Err...ok. o.O
Anyways, my predecessor also came to the celebration. He flew here from the states a couple of days ago to come see the 3rd years graduate since he was with them the longest. I think that maybe he secretly came to see his girlfriend who was a teacher at the middle school.......=P I was actually slightly, slightly late for the ceremony. All because I forgot my schedule book in the staff room so I had to run back from the gym to get it. eheh. But I still made it on time before the 3rd years came walking in and the band started playing the graduation song. There was so much bowing and strict formal tradition in this whole process. The students have to have a very good posture while walking to their seats or walking up to the stage/podium to accept their certificate from the principal. Bow once before the principle, accept the certificate, step back, bow again, take one step back and turn to face the audience, walk down the stairs, bow to the BOE on the opposite side of the teachers, walk to their parents (where a little white table was set up where the parents go up to the table when their child comes), bow to their parents, hand over the certificate to them, bow again, and walk with good posture back to their seats... I was quite surprised actually. But amazed at the good discipline of these kids.
Then afterwards, when the 3rd year students` representatives, one boy and one girl, came to the front to give a speech to everyone, it was the most heartwrenching sobfest ever! Because this is a small school and there is only 1 class for every grade level (no 3A, 3B, 3C. Just 3A cuz there`s not that many students that they all fit in one class), and because they`ve all been together for 9 years of their lives never changing classes and some have been together since preschool, this is the first time that they will be seperated from each other. All the students are going to different high schools as all the high schools here are like specialty schools. My best English speaking student is going all the way to Sapporo in the best language school there. So, because this is the first time they`re going to be leaving each other, they have so much precious memories together, that everyone started crying. The students made a speech to thank all the teachers, all the younger students, and lastly, their precious classmates. I told myself I wasn`t going to cry, but I ended up doing so. It was just so touching. I felt like this was an US high school graduation where that was the final stage for everyone leaving each other and going to different schools/countries.
After the speech, the 3rd years sang a chorus song for everyone. They had one student come play the piano and one student conduct. Now, everyone was still crying/sniffling from the speech and one of the boys, the conductor, was red from crying and couldn`t stop sniffling really. So when he got up there, he tried to look strong and hold it all back, but as soon as the song started because it was such a sad sounding song and to look at all your friends crying, he couldn`t hold it in any longer and tears started pouring from his face, yet he still conducted wonderfully. He actually had to close his eyes for a while because he couldn`t stop crying. It was, seriously, one of the most touching and heartbreaking graduation ceremonies I`ve ever been to. When asked later by my teachers about how was a Japanese graduation compared to American ones, I said that the American ones are usually a big celebration and everyone`s just ridiculously happy and having fun, especially college ones. The high school one is probably the only really tearing one because that`s when everyone really seperates. But middle school was never that bad. But then again, most schools in America are big and graduating classes are about 300 and more students. This school only had 25 students graduating. Yeah, the whole 3rd year (9th grade) consists of only 25 students.
After the sobfest, the students and their parents went to the Lakeside Sakuraoka hotel to have a party. The teachers also all went. It was a buffet style lunch, which was absolutely delicious, and then the kids all performed songs and just had fun. Then the MC called up all the teachers to make speeches. I was last and I was ready to give a good speech in English. It was simple slow English so that everyone, even the parents who have not studied English in forever can understand. Although i got a bit excited. haha. I started out with "minna (everyone) CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!" Everyone thought I was going to speak Japanese, but I busted out the English. heh. At the congratulations part all my students whooped and clapped and yelled. And I couldn`t help it, I got caught up in their enthusiasm, and let my American self go and also whooooooooooooo-ed into the mic. ehehe. I`m sure the other teachers were a little taken aback. But the kids were all for it. haha. I told them "your English is very good! So in high school, good luck! I believe in you. You can do it! Yes, you can!" And my students whooped again after that. And then I realized afterwards, oh, maybe I shouldn`t have did the whoop thing, cuz that might`ve scared the other teachers for a little bit. ehehe. Ah well, I`m American, let them just think that. Or at least I hope they`ll think that. ~_~;
After the ceremony we all went home and went to ponder about how I`m going to confess to Mr. Wonderful. I had already decided that I will confess to him on Wednesday night because that is the only night that I believe he will be alone in the classroom. Thursday night there will be other teachers there till late in the evening, and Friday night, he probably goes home early. So I decided to go at around 8pm. I went over there and saw that there were still 3 other cars there. So I went back home and decided to come over at 9pm, other teachers were still there. Went back home again, tried 10pm, and there was still at least one teacher there. So in the end after driving around for another 10 minutes I decided that I would just go in there, ask him to come out to talk in the hallway and confess to him there, as awkward and weird as it may be to the other teacher there. I got there ready to do it, then discovered that the lights were all off and all the cars were gone. *sigh* I had missed him by a couple of minutes. And I was so ready too....>.<; Man. I was thinking to myself how bad everything is turning out and decided to go home dejectedly.
At home, after having a good long talk with Collin about this mess, getting a guys POV, it made better sense to me to ask Mr. Wonderful out to dinner first before confessing. It`s better to confess in not a work environment. At school, it would be kind of awkward. Even though I would never really do that because I`m not really aggressive and I don`t like to take the initiative with a guy. But if I don`t, I won`t get my chance. And plus, he`s a Japanese guy, so unfortunately, being the foreign girl, I have to take the initiative... So I decided to do just that the next day.
March 11th Thursday
Well, I waited until the end of the day after 5th period to walk into his classroom to ask him to dinner. I was kind of nervous, but not as nervous as I was when I went to ask about the snowboard. I felt kind of....complacent..? Anyways, I walked in there, and as soon as I did, I forgot what I was going to say. And then I just stood there after saying hello to him and was like "oh no, I forgot what I was going to say...uh, hold on." And then finally was able to ask him about where he got placed in for his next school. He still doesn`t know yet apparetnly. Then I asked him are you always here until 9 or 10 at night which he says, "yes, just about every night." "Well then, what do you do about food?" "I go home to eat it afterwards." "At 10 at night?!!" "Yes. haha" "WOW." "Well, hmm...If you`re okay with it, how about dinner sometime? Maybe tonight? Or tomorrow?" "Uh, I`m pretty busy these last few days because of the graduation ceremonies coming up and everything." "Oh, yes, I understand. Then maybe next week? Monday?" "Mondays are not the best for me, tuesdays too. But maybe Wednesday might be ok." "Oh, alrgith then. Well, how about we exchange cell phone mail so that we can message each other a good time for it?" "Oh, yeah, sure that`d be fine."
So we exchanged cell phone mail addresses, but he said that his might be wrong because it`s so long that he can`t really remember it all himself. And indeed it was quite long. But he said that if it`s wrong and after he checks his email he`ll tell me again. Because neither of us had our phones on us since they were all in the staff room and we were in his classroom. So we chatted for 5 more minutes or so and then I told him I will text him and said thank you and left.
After school was over I went to the large playroom to see what my friend Yuki was doing. Her and my favorite "Winnie the Pooh-Kitagawa-sensei" and Mr. Wonderful were mixing paint to color the 6th grade graduation banner with. So I decided to help out to which Kitagawa-sensei was more than delighted. I love this man, my fav teacher here. SOOO Cute. Like a bear, and his voice sounds like Pooh too. heheh.^^ Well, he then left to go to do some other errands, and so it was jut me and the other two. I love chatting with Yuki because she`s so much fun and outgoing and happy and just a great gal all around. And it seems that Mr. Wonderful does too. He really liked to chat with her. All I could do, because I`m not yet fluent in Japanese, and it was difficult to hear everything spoken in normal speed Japanese, was just sit there, nod and occasionally laugh at their comments. I couldn`t really say anythnig because I wasn`t sure what they were saying. I did ask some questions but there were mainly about vocab and what the subject that they were talking about. It`s difficult to grasp subjects in japanese as they don`t really say them sometimes....
So after seeing them go at it with a wonderful fun time conversation, I realized how pitiful my Japanese level was and how inept at conversation I was in it. And how I could never have as lively a conversation as they could have together. He really laughed alot and had fun talking with her. And maybe, I got a sense that he might be into her. Maybe. I`m not sure, but judging by how wonderful the two of them seemed to go together and their convo, I`d say the two might do better together than I would, and that maybe he liked her. *sigh* I don`t know.
At the end of the day before I went home, I didn`t feel excited or exhilarated or accomplished at asking him out to dinner. I just felt....normal. I had a Parent-child English conversation class to do that night and it was the last of this year`s, so I focused on doing that. We made peanut butter balls and grilled cheese sandwiches. The kids had so much fun makin the peanut butter balls because you have to use your hands. And the moms loved the grilled cheese sandwiches. My kids said that they loved my class and they wanted to have more with me. When I told them no more, they were all pretty sad. Aww. I love my children. I think that maybe I should channel my love for Mr. Wonderful into the love that I have for these kids. It would maybe be put to better use instead of this futile lovesick feeling that might not amount to anything. Le sigh.
Otsukare for reading guys! Pics will be up later on. Love
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I feel almost rejected....but I won`t give up yet!
Feb. 26th Friday
Today was a fun day with my mentally disabled kids` English class at my middle school. There`s only 2 kids so it`s a really relaxed fun atmosphere. Even the JTE (the Japanese teacher of English with whom I assist) was just weird and crazy. haha. We spent the class playing English games and then afterwards played on the giant yoga balls (or whatever those huge inflatable exercise balls are called)and lounged around. Haha. That was cool.
Feb. 27th Saturday
Today I was supposed to go to one of my high school teacher`s house to have lunch with his family because his wife invited me. I also teach his little baby boy at the nursery. Adorable and smart lil kid. His English is amazing! ^^ But I guess it helps that his parents also speak alot of it. However, I figured that it might not happen today since the high school`s graduation is the coming Monday so he might be busy. So instead, my supervisor and her family invited me to have shabu shabu lunch with them. I love her family, they`re so cute. From the first time I met them, I adored them, and was like "Yes, I can tell this is Su`s family." lol Her dad and mom really like me and think that I`m a good influence on Su. haha. I can cook, clean, drive her around everywhere, and compared to her, I have good fashion sense. =P So her family wants me to try and impart my style to her. LOL I personally love Su the way she is. She`s hilarious and an amazing friend here.
Anyways, we went to this Shabu Shabu restaurant that I thought was going to be tabehoudai (all you can eat) so I can stuff myself, but it turns out it was one of those order your own set places. And it was no ordinary set. It was a set where one plate of four slices of meat costs $36.00!!!!!! ONE PLATE, FOUR SLICES! $36.00!!! O.O!! I was like, "Damn, this is a freakin high class shabu place." I was content with ordering the cheapest plate of meat which was about $20.00/four slices cuz I didn`t want to be a rude guest and I didn`t want them to spend so much money on me since they`re paying. But her mom and dad were like, "One plate of meat is not enough, so let`s get one special plate ($36), one "moon" plate ($30), one "bamboo" plate ($28), and one sukiyaki set ($25)." WHOA. WHOA. That`s a lot of money for four plates of 16 slices of meat total. And this was just lunch! But you could tell the meat was very high end (I`m currently not remembering the English word for it). The most expensive one was very marbled and soft. All of the meat tasted delicious. But I still would`ve been okay with just plain all you can eat cheap meat...like the ones you can buy in grocery stores. haha. =)
I was fine with all this food already. And then, apparently, her family is used to drinking coffee after eating, so we ordered a thing of coffee each, and then ordered sherbets afterwards. These weren`t very cheap either. I tried to eat and drink everything slowly, savroing the flavor of expensiveness, of something I would never get for myself. But Su and her family just ate everything up really fast! lol I guess they`re used to eating rich. At the end of the lunch, I came to a conclusion: Su`s family is BALLER!! Yeah. Her dad is a tax collector and her mom works in an elderly care center in Asahikawa. But they seem to have a good life, and they`re well off... I was very appreciative of the food though. It was delicious.
Feb. 28th Sunday
Massive cleaning day. And then sat down to watch the last season of "Heroes".
March 1st Monday
I`ve been feeling pretty genki lately because of having been able to talk to Mr. Wonderful. But I wanted to leave him alone for a bit since he seems to be busy with things. So I decided to just mind my own business and let him talk to me when he can. After school today, though, he left to go help grab some panels to hang posters and stuff on for the elementary graduation ceremony. They asked us to help bring the panels in when they come back with them. So I did.
After all the panels were brought in and set up, Noso-sensei and I noticed that Mr. Wonderfurl`s fur on the hood of his jacket (oh Japaense guys with your fur hoods) was partially coming off. It was originally attached with buttons, but it apparently came loose. So we both said something to him about it at the same time and he tried to fix it himself which didn`t really work too well because he can`t see it. lol So Noso-sensei was like, "Theresa, go and fix it for him." Well, I said sure, but my heart was thumping a little because I had to get really close to him to fix it. It was right by his head after all. He`s a lot taller than I am, so he had to bend down a little for me to fix it for him. haha. He said "Thank you very much" to me which I responded, without being able to look at him because I was kind of embarrased, you`re welcome. And I missed my chance to talk to him afterwards because he was walking alone in front of my friends and I, and I decided to stay back to talk with my friends instead of talking to him. *sigh* I`m so stupid. Later, Yuki texted me and was like "It`s a good thing you were able to help him with his fur wasn`t it?" lol
March 2nd Tuesday
Hmm....today was an...interesting day. I was feeling damn genki. I taught my kids as usual and had an awesome fun lunch with my children with whom were very very talkative...and alot of it I really could not understand. They speak too fast in Japanese. haha.
After 5th period today I prepared myself to go talk to Mr. Wonderful about snowboarding. However, the snow was already melting, so I wasn`t sure if we would still be able to go. Yuki also worried for me. She told me that the best thing would be to invite him over to dinner...which I was a lil suspicious about. haha. Anyways, I got up my courage to ask him about it in his class. He was busy doing something and I felt terrible interrupting him. I was also nervous. But I went in there and asked him about the snowboard stuff. He said, "Oh yes, that`s right. The snow is kind of melting...why don`t we just cancel it, then? And, plus, I`ve been pretty busy lately." I answered, spitting these words out really fast since I was nervous, "Oh, yes, your busy? Then it`s totally fine. No worries. I`ll try on my own. Thank you!" "Sorry" "No, no problem!" And as I was backing out to leave the classroom, I turned a bit and hit the desk next to me and gave a surprised yelp and made a clang. It was pretty clumsy looking, I have to say. Mr. Wonderful asked if I was okay and I told him, "Yes! I`m fine! I`m perfectly fine!" and scuttled away... u_u; Man, that felt like a rejection...lol And even worse, I was not graceful with it.
*sigh* I felt terrible afterwards and wasn`t sure what to do...so I looked for Yuki to talk to about this. She was in the nurse`s office again so I went to go and talk to her. I told her everything that happened and she told me that the only thing I can do now, is invite him for dinner or stuff....which is really awkward for me. So we pondered on this stuff for a while. She said that, maybe, he already knew/noticed about my feelings. I am really obvious, she says. haha. Yeah, I`ve been told by people I`m really easy to understand and obvious... And by all the actions that I`ve done, it must be obvious. I prefer it if he kind of knew already. It makes things easier on me. And it shows him I`m acting weird and stupid around him because I like him, not because I`m normally like that...or am I? I then asked her if I should confess to him. She said I should because he`s leaving in 3 weeks and I will feel better about it too. I wasn`t sure if I should confess to him the day before he left or if I should do it next week. If I do it early and he likes me too, then we have some time to spend together. But if he doesn`t like me, it might be awkward at work because we see each other 3 times a week. I don`t want it to be awkward between us. If I confess before he leaves, if he doesn`t like me, then I won`t have to see him ever again! If he likes me...well, I don`t know.
I`m trying to lean on the more pessimistic side here with "maybe, he doesn`t like me" so that I don`t get my hopes up too high. I kinda have a feeling that maybe he really doesn`t have the same feelings for me. He`s just so much more mature like and he seems to be the type to go for older women or women who are more mature and lady like and graceful. I`m the more clumsy girl who likes to go have fun and have adventures and is far from graceful (I pop and lock and like to club ~_~) and I`m not yet ready to be so matronly yet. I don`t know. I don`t seem to be his type. But Yuki told me that you never know. That`s what I think, and not what he thinks. He could have a different mindset about me, you never know. So I am planning on confessing sometime next week in the evenings when I know he is alone at the school working until super late at night. It`d be awkward if there were other teachers around...
However, when I was about to go home, I decided I should go say thank you to him for trying with the snowboarding thing anyway. I didn`t want to give up just then from his earlier rejection. So I went in and told him thank you for trying and "If it`s possible, could you just give me advice and tips on riding the snowboard? I know you`re busy, so just when you have time and are able to. No rush" He said that yes, he would definitely try to get the stuff for me. And then I left. I felt a lot better after that talk with him. At least it wasn`t complete rejection of "no I don`t want to have anything to do with you.
March 3 Wednesday
Today I`m at the middle school, but I want to go to the elementary for a special ceremony they`re having today. It`s a ceremony for the 6th graders since they`re graduating and all the other grades are putting up some kind of show for them. Due to the unfortunate scheduling of my classes at the middle school I was unable to get to the elementary until 10:35 when it started at 10:15. But at least I saw a lot of it. I saw Mr. Wonderful too, but tried not to look at him. I was there for the kids. ^_^;
After that I was able to watch the ganbari happyokai that the elementary`s mentally disabled students put on. It was cute and they did such a good job! ^^ So proud of them! They even did a play in English! So proud, so proud. And then, due to unfortunate class scheduling again, I had to leave 10 minutes before it ended so I can get back to the middle school on time to teach the next class. Phew. It was frantic today. haha.
My 1st and 2nd year middle school kids are getting ready for the graduation ceremony for the 3rd graders today. Such busy lil bees.
I`ve been feeling oddly lightheaded lately. I`m not exactly sure what`s wrong and what`s going on, but it`s either my experiences with Mr. Wonderful that`s doing this to me, or other problems.... eh. But on the flip side, I am super genki lately, although tired. When I`m talking though, I`m super genki.
Otsukare for reading!
Today was a fun day with my mentally disabled kids` English class at my middle school. There`s only 2 kids so it`s a really relaxed fun atmosphere. Even the JTE (the Japanese teacher of English with whom I assist) was just weird and crazy. haha. We spent the class playing English games and then afterwards played on the giant yoga balls (or whatever those huge inflatable exercise balls are called)and lounged around. Haha. That was cool.
Feb. 27th Saturday
Today I was supposed to go to one of my high school teacher`s house to have lunch with his family because his wife invited me. I also teach his little baby boy at the nursery. Adorable and smart lil kid. His English is amazing! ^^ But I guess it helps that his parents also speak alot of it. However, I figured that it might not happen today since the high school`s graduation is the coming Monday so he might be busy. So instead, my supervisor and her family invited me to have shabu shabu lunch with them. I love her family, they`re so cute. From the first time I met them, I adored them, and was like "Yes, I can tell this is Su`s family." lol Her dad and mom really like me and think that I`m a good influence on Su. haha. I can cook, clean, drive her around everywhere, and compared to her, I have good fashion sense. =P So her family wants me to try and impart my style to her. LOL I personally love Su the way she is. She`s hilarious and an amazing friend here.
Anyways, we went to this Shabu Shabu restaurant that I thought was going to be tabehoudai (all you can eat) so I can stuff myself, but it turns out it was one of those order your own set places. And it was no ordinary set. It was a set where one plate of four slices of meat costs $36.00!!!!!! ONE PLATE, FOUR SLICES! $36.00!!! O.O!! I was like, "Damn, this is a freakin high class shabu place." I was content with ordering the cheapest plate of meat which was about $20.00/four slices cuz I didn`t want to be a rude guest and I didn`t want them to spend so much money on me since they`re paying. But her mom and dad were like, "One plate of meat is not enough, so let`s get one special plate ($36), one "moon" plate ($30), one "bamboo" plate ($28), and one sukiyaki set ($25)." WHOA. WHOA. That`s a lot of money for four plates of 16 slices of meat total. And this was just lunch! But you could tell the meat was very high end (I`m currently not remembering the English word for it). The most expensive one was very marbled and soft. All of the meat tasted delicious. But I still would`ve been okay with just plain all you can eat cheap meat...like the ones you can buy in grocery stores. haha. =)
I was fine with all this food already. And then, apparently, her family is used to drinking coffee after eating, so we ordered a thing of coffee each, and then ordered sherbets afterwards. These weren`t very cheap either. I tried to eat and drink everything slowly, savroing the flavor of expensiveness, of something I would never get for myself. But Su and her family just ate everything up really fast! lol I guess they`re used to eating rich. At the end of the lunch, I came to a conclusion: Su`s family is BALLER!! Yeah. Her dad is a tax collector and her mom works in an elderly care center in Asahikawa. But they seem to have a good life, and they`re well off... I was very appreciative of the food though. It was delicious.
Feb. 28th Sunday
Massive cleaning day. And then sat down to watch the last season of "Heroes".
March 1st Monday
I`ve been feeling pretty genki lately because of having been able to talk to Mr. Wonderful. But I wanted to leave him alone for a bit since he seems to be busy with things. So I decided to just mind my own business and let him talk to me when he can. After school today, though, he left to go help grab some panels to hang posters and stuff on for the elementary graduation ceremony. They asked us to help bring the panels in when they come back with them. So I did.
After all the panels were brought in and set up, Noso-sensei and I noticed that Mr. Wonderfurl`s fur on the hood of his jacket (oh Japaense guys with your fur hoods) was partially coming off. It was originally attached with buttons, but it apparently came loose. So we both said something to him about it at the same time and he tried to fix it himself which didn`t really work too well because he can`t see it. lol So Noso-sensei was like, "Theresa, go and fix it for him." Well, I said sure, but my heart was thumping a little because I had to get really close to him to fix it. It was right by his head after all. He`s a lot taller than I am, so he had to bend down a little for me to fix it for him. haha. He said "Thank you very much" to me which I responded, without being able to look at him because I was kind of embarrased, you`re welcome. And I missed my chance to talk to him afterwards because he was walking alone in front of my friends and I, and I decided to stay back to talk with my friends instead of talking to him. *sigh* I`m so stupid. Later, Yuki texted me and was like "It`s a good thing you were able to help him with his fur wasn`t it?" lol
March 2nd Tuesday
Hmm....today was an...interesting day. I was feeling damn genki. I taught my kids as usual and had an awesome fun lunch with my children with whom were very very talkative...and alot of it I really could not understand. They speak too fast in Japanese. haha.
After 5th period today I prepared myself to go talk to Mr. Wonderful about snowboarding. However, the snow was already melting, so I wasn`t sure if we would still be able to go. Yuki also worried for me. She told me that the best thing would be to invite him over to dinner...which I was a lil suspicious about. haha. Anyways, I got up my courage to ask him about it in his class. He was busy doing something and I felt terrible interrupting him. I was also nervous. But I went in there and asked him about the snowboard stuff. He said, "Oh yes, that`s right. The snow is kind of melting...why don`t we just cancel it, then? And, plus, I`ve been pretty busy lately." I answered, spitting these words out really fast since I was nervous, "Oh, yes, your busy? Then it`s totally fine. No worries. I`ll try on my own. Thank you!" "Sorry" "No, no problem!" And as I was backing out to leave the classroom, I turned a bit and hit the desk next to me and gave a surprised yelp and made a clang. It was pretty clumsy looking, I have to say. Mr. Wonderful asked if I was okay and I told him, "Yes! I`m fine! I`m perfectly fine!" and scuttled away... u_u; Man, that felt like a rejection...lol And even worse, I was not graceful with it.
*sigh* I felt terrible afterwards and wasn`t sure what to do...so I looked for Yuki to talk to about this. She was in the nurse`s office again so I went to go and talk to her. I told her everything that happened and she told me that the only thing I can do now, is invite him for dinner or stuff....which is really awkward for me. So we pondered on this stuff for a while. She said that, maybe, he already knew/noticed about my feelings. I am really obvious, she says. haha. Yeah, I`ve been told by people I`m really easy to understand and obvious... And by all the actions that I`ve done, it must be obvious. I prefer it if he kind of knew already. It makes things easier on me. And it shows him I`m acting weird and stupid around him because I like him, not because I`m normally like that...or am I? I then asked her if I should confess to him. She said I should because he`s leaving in 3 weeks and I will feel better about it too. I wasn`t sure if I should confess to him the day before he left or if I should do it next week. If I do it early and he likes me too, then we have some time to spend together. But if he doesn`t like me, it might be awkward at work because we see each other 3 times a week. I don`t want it to be awkward between us. If I confess before he leaves, if he doesn`t like me, then I won`t have to see him ever again! If he likes me...well, I don`t know.
I`m trying to lean on the more pessimistic side here with "maybe, he doesn`t like me" so that I don`t get my hopes up too high. I kinda have a feeling that maybe he really doesn`t have the same feelings for me. He`s just so much more mature like and he seems to be the type to go for older women or women who are more mature and lady like and graceful. I`m the more clumsy girl who likes to go have fun and have adventures and is far from graceful (I pop and lock and like to club ~_~) and I`m not yet ready to be so matronly yet. I don`t know. I don`t seem to be his type. But Yuki told me that you never know. That`s what I think, and not what he thinks. He could have a different mindset about me, you never know. So I am planning on confessing sometime next week in the evenings when I know he is alone at the school working until super late at night. It`d be awkward if there were other teachers around...
However, when I was about to go home, I decided I should go say thank you to him for trying with the snowboarding thing anyway. I didn`t want to give up just then from his earlier rejection. So I went in and told him thank you for trying and "If it`s possible, could you just give me advice and tips on riding the snowboard? I know you`re busy, so just when you have time and are able to. No rush" He said that yes, he would definitely try to get the stuff for me. And then I left. I felt a lot better after that talk with him. At least it wasn`t complete rejection of "no I don`t want to have anything to do with you.
March 3 Wednesday
Today I`m at the middle school, but I want to go to the elementary for a special ceremony they`re having today. It`s a ceremony for the 6th graders since they`re graduating and all the other grades are putting up some kind of show for them. Due to the unfortunate scheduling of my classes at the middle school I was unable to get to the elementary until 10:35 when it started at 10:15. But at least I saw a lot of it. I saw Mr. Wonderful too, but tried not to look at him. I was there for the kids. ^_^;
After that I was able to watch the ganbari happyokai that the elementary`s mentally disabled students put on. It was cute and they did such a good job! ^^ So proud of them! They even did a play in English! So proud, so proud. And then, due to unfortunate class scheduling again, I had to leave 10 minutes before it ended so I can get back to the middle school on time to teach the next class. Phew. It was frantic today. haha.
My 1st and 2nd year middle school kids are getting ready for the graduation ceremony for the 3rd graders today. Such busy lil bees.
I`ve been feeling oddly lightheaded lately. I`m not exactly sure what`s wrong and what`s going on, but it`s either my experiences with Mr. Wonderful that`s doing this to me, or other problems.... eh. But on the flip side, I am super genki lately, although tired. When I`m talking though, I`m super genki.
Otsukare for reading!
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