May 2nd Sunday
Today was our elephant orphanage tour. I was super excited for this tour and have been waiting for it since before we arrived. Our guide was also very amazing and sweet. He first took us to Batu Caves which was on the way to the elephant orphanage for a very nice discounted price which was not part of our original tour. But we had extra time, so he decided to take us there. And while we were in the car, I realized I forgot my camera and Erika only brought her big camera which was almost out of batteries...great. But, luckily, upon arriving at the caves, I bought a disposable camera.
The caves were amazing. It`s placed in a large mountainside and is said to be a very religious site. Well, there were Hindu temples all over the place. To get to the top and actually into the caves you had to climb 200 stone steps up, which wasn`t as bad as it sounds. There were just a lot of monkeys all over the place. And they`re vicious, so no touching or getting near them. Most of them were too busy chewing on fruits to bother us anyways. The cave was large and, thankfully, very cool. It was super humid and hot that day so, it was nice to be in the cave. There were statues/idols in alcoves and a temple at the end of the cave.
On our way out of the area we saw little tents set up selling real Indian sweets. We bought one of every colorful sweets they had. It was so delicious, but, ultimately, too sweet for my tastes. I think I`ve become more accustomed to Japanese sweetness lately, or that`s just how I`ve been so far.
Our next stop was Deerland, a sort of mini zoo. Upon arriving there we first went to see and play with the sunbear. A fat kind of tame small bear. It`s face looks very different from any bear I`ve seen, but it was cute nonetheless...Oh, and did I mention it was fat? It would just sit there and eat while you pet it and took pictures of it. Pretty mellow thing, when there`s food in it`s mouth. We then walked around and went into a deer pen to play with the deer. They`re much more tame than the Nara deer that`s for sure, although some of them still bit me for food. The baby deer were lickin my face. lol It was cute and funny. We walked around a bit more and got to hold a snake and pet it. Boy, do I miss snakes. I used to really love putting the ones my bio teacher had in high school around my neck and play with it. Ah, back in the day.
Afterwards, we went to ab aboriginal village where we learned how to shoot needles through pipes. I forgot what they`re called. Anyways, we finally made our way to the elephant orphanage. It was crowded that day though. Well, more people than on a weekday I would assume. When we got there we saw baby elephants standing around being fed by the tourists. If you had a bag of peanuts you could put the food in their mouths or let them suck it up through their nose. They were sooo cute! But not very soft or squishy. lol Their hide and hair were very wiry and coarse. But their tongues were uber soft. I was a little afraid of touching their mouths at first so I accidentally threw the peanuts in their mouths. But then I realized they had no teeth and that it didn`t hurt when their mouths shut on my hands so I would just put the peanuts directly into their mouths or on their tongues. I loved touching their tongues though. Super smooth and soft. heheh.
Then they brought the big elephants out. We got to watch a lil show as they introduced all the animals and then we were able to ride on them. Erika and I, unfortunately, got on one that was particularly spiny and it really hurt our bottoms. =P After that we rode one into the nearby river and the elephant tipped itself over to dump us into the water. I accidentally swallowed some of the river water... Oh, but it was great fun to play and bathe with the elephants. They also brought in the baby ones too. Such cute and funny beasts. And that was the end of the elephant orphange shows and attractions. We spent a good 2 hours there though. It was an amazing experience.
Afterwards, our guide took us to a roadside stand to eat durian, all of which I couldn`t finish because it`s been a long time since I`ve eaten it and it is not my favorite anymore. The smell I could stand, but I just couldn`t eat it anymore even though I tried to stuff as much of it in my mouth because I felt bad that we got it and weren`t going to finish it. And Erika just did not like it. lol Our guide was nice enough to take us to Little India outside market and drop us off there instead of our hotel. We bought some fake MAC makeup for great prices. lol For dinner we ate at a vegetarian Indian curry house. It was amaaaaazzzinngg! The naan and the curry we had was damn good. Or actually, it wasn`t really curry, but something like it. We then went on home to get ready for the next day`s journey to Langkawi island.
May 3rd Monday
So I woke up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous. I didn`t know why but I just wanted to throw up. So I kept vomiting the whole night. I couldn`t even move my position in bed because if I turned left or right instead of facing up I would get nauseous and go throw up again. It was terrible. My entire night was like that. And I woke up the next morning feeling incredibly weak with what felt like a fever. I suppose I was dehydrated from ejecting all the liquids in me ,but I wasn`t sure where this fever came from. I at first thought that it might have been food poisoning or something. But then Erika suggested that it could`ve been the river water I swallowed.
It took every ounce of energy I had to get up and move and get ready to go to the airport for what was supposed to be a fun filled day on the beach at Langkawi island. I could tell Erika was really worried for me and wondered if I would be able to travel. But I was thinking in my head that we had already booked the flight there and we both had really wanted to spend time at the beach, so I was not about to let this temporary ill condition I had get the best of my trip. So, naturally, I bucked myself up and got a taxi to the airport. The taxi, however, was so old and run down with broken AC that I don`t even know how I made it to the airport without passing out or more throwing up in my condition. When I got there, it was difficult for me to even get out of the car and walk. Just carrying my purse felt burdensome. But once I got there and got some 7-up in my system I immediately felt better. I felt more revived, but still very weak and feverish. As Erika put it "You looked like you were going to die." lol Yeah, I felt like it. But I pumped myself with 7-up after 7-up and started feeling better. After sleeping on the plane and drinking some blackcurrant juice (which is a very big thing in Malaysia) I felt more alive and could even stomach some peanut butter crackers. My stomach was still a lil tender though.
Upon arriving at the airport, the environment of the whole place was vastly different from that of Kuala Lumpur. Oh man, it was nice. It really felt like an island resort. We got ourselves a taxi to AB Motel. So, I tried to book a room for the AB motel via phone before we got to Malaysia and they said they were full for those days. But apparently, for any of the hotels here in Langkawi, if you do walk-ins, they always have vacancies. lol We lucked out and got the last chalet situated right on the beach for only a total of about $30 a night. RIGHT ON THE BEACH!! A CHALET!! $30 A NIGHT ONLY!! Wow. It was roomy and nice. Although I still felt weak, just standing on the beach and breathing in the air felt wonderful and I felt revived. But upon laying down on the bed, my fever came back and I was bedridden for the day. Thank God for Erika being there and her Ibuprofen. She was so sweet and wonderful, trying to help me get better and bringing me food and ice from the local markets. Without her, I would`ve seriously been in trouble. In the evening, however, I started to feel better so I got up and went to sit on the benches outside situated under shady trees on the beach. That really really made me feel like normal again.
Ah, I really do miss the beach. Being a California girl, living her college life in Irvine/Newport Beach there is nothing that beats the feeling of like being home again. We then went to go eat at one of the many restaurants on the main street in front of the hotel. I, unfortunately, could not stomach anything else but bolognaise spaghetti, of which I felt terrible for eating because we`re in Malaysia, and I`m eating spagetti....But it did feel good to have food in my system though. We then returned home and I slept early for the night and started to feel better.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
My trip to Malaysia Part 1: an eye opening experience
April 29th Thursday
Left this morning for the airport. I was super excited, but at the same time complacent. Upon arriving I met up with Erika (whom I was very glad to see) at the new and beautiful International Terminal at the Sapporo airport. It was just glistening white. My new favorite airport. Anyways, today was the beginning of my trip to Malaysia. We rode on Cathay Pacific and first arrived in Hong Kong for a 1 night layover. The hotel we stayed at was absolutely beautiful with views of the beach and ocean. Hong Kong is an island country so it was just a bunch of hotels/apts mini cities built on islands connected by bridges. Very interesting to see. The shower was wonderful, though it had blinds so you could open them when taking a shower....lol
April 39th Friday
Got up this morning, bid our beautiful hotel goodbye, and left for the airport to Malaysia. Upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur we immediately noticed how hot and, in particular, humid it was. We got ourselves a nice airport black taxi and headed into Kuala Lumpur city, the heart and capital of Malaysia. Our taxi driver was excellent. He gave us all kinds of information on the city and kind of gave us a mini tour. So we finally arrived at our hotel and realized that we were in the more un-touristy area of the city. If you want the real Malaysian experience, ya gotta come to Chow-kit. That`s where we were. It was quite uh....real. I mean the area is not for tourists as it`s surroundings and decor and traffic are not attractive to the average tourist. Our hotel, Hotel Sahara, was adequate for budget travlers. Clean and conveniently located near all the big sites and attractions. But the bathroom was quite interesting. The sink, toilet, and shower were not separated. As in, there is no set shower area. The shower hose hung between the toilet and the sink. So when you took a shower you basically got the whole room wet, including the toilet...lol
Anyways, a bit of interesting info for those who don`t know much about Malaysia. Malaysia is a Muslim country. But the main population (particularly on the east side) consists of Chinese, Indian, and Malays. So there`s alot of languages and religions going on here. Moreover, they used to be a British colony up until 50 years ago so everyone here speaks English and everything is written in English. So Erika and I had no problems getting around whatsoever. Now, speaking of the religion part/tradition/culture, I noticed something very interesting that really opened my eyes.
The Malaysian women, being all Muslim, wear beautiful scarves around their head that only covers their hair and usually wear pants and long sleeves. Then there are the more strict Muslim women who cover themselves from head to toe (literally) in black cloth and only allow their eyes to show through, like the women we`ve been seeing in the American media in Afghanistan, etc. Only, these women walk side by side with skimpily dressed Chinese girls and tank top wearing Indian girls. It`s very interesting to see because the conservative Muslim women don`t seem to mind being friends with/or being seen with/being near to the other women who aren`t so covered up. Everyone`s content with one another. However, for couples, you always only see Chinese and Chinese, Indian and Indian, or maybe Chinese and Indian, but never Malaysian and Chinese/Indian. The Malaysians also only go for other Malaysians because of their religion. If you want to marry or go out with a Malaysian girl/guy you have to convert to being a Muslim. So all these people will walk side by side, but are never really integrated. You`ll see all three races shopping in the same clothing store, but for different clothes. That was very interesting to watch.
The Muslim women (the strict ones included), however, seem perfectly happy with their lives and the men treat them quite well it seems. The women are actually free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn`t go against their religion. They don`t have to walk behind their husbands, they carry designer handbags of all flashy colors, and seem to be able to wear whatever they like as long as it covers majority of their body. Meaning no show of legs (sandals/flip-flops are okay to wear though) and no tank tops or sleeveless tops. Then again, this is Malaysia where I`m sure is not as strict on these things as the countries where the religion originated. Oh, and there are mosques everywhere.
Anyways, back on track. After arriving in our hotel and taking a leisurely walk around the surrounding areas of the hotel we went to Chinatown. And there, we shopped, got stalked by a creepy Indian man trying to make us go into his shop, and ate wonderful nostalgic (well, nostalgic for me) food. No Malaysian food yet, just Chinese food. But it`s authentic Chinese food that I haven`t had in forever and I missed it terribly. I didn`t realize how much I missed it until I popped the sweet roast pork (Cha-shu) in my mouth. Man... Oh and the fruit! Man, the fruit juice was excellent there. Way good!
That night, after returning back to our hotel, we walked around our area for a bit. It was quite shady to say the least and dirty. Coming from beautiful clean Hokkaido Japan, Malaysia was pretty disturbing. But that`s how all the Southeast asian countries (besides Singapore) are compared to Japan. Live like the locals do I suppose.
May 1 Saturday
Today we took the Monorail to the Golden Triangle area. The monorail broke down and we gave up and just decided to walk to our destination, which wasn`t far. I had wanted to head over to Bukit Bintang area for some shopping. So we broke down at the perfect stop. We entered the Sugei Wang plaza, which is this giant giant shopping mall. Like bigger than any I`ve ever been to. We walked around for a while, realized that none of these clothes would fit us and just kept walking around. My feet, for some reaon, started to get really tired and sore real fast. Boo. Anyways, after that, we walked over he Berjaya Times Square, which is a higher level mall complete with the largest indoor theme park in all of Southeast Asia. It was awesome...though we didn`t buy too much. haha.
From there we went to KL Tower which looks like the Stratosphere. I had reserved us dinner there at the restaurant on the top of the tower. The view from the top was breathtaking. Absolutely. The restaurant revolves giving you a full 360 degree view of the city. The food was great and I was stuffed. We spent 2 hours in the restaurant revolving until we came back around to where we started. And then left to go back down. We had wanted to go to Little India, but it seemed to be already closed. So we just headed back to our hotel and chilled.
Left this morning for the airport. I was super excited, but at the same time complacent. Upon arriving I met up with Erika (whom I was very glad to see) at the new and beautiful International Terminal at the Sapporo airport. It was just glistening white. My new favorite airport. Anyways, today was the beginning of my trip to Malaysia. We rode on Cathay Pacific and first arrived in Hong Kong for a 1 night layover. The hotel we stayed at was absolutely beautiful with views of the beach and ocean. Hong Kong is an island country so it was just a bunch of hotels/apts mini cities built on islands connected by bridges. Very interesting to see. The shower was wonderful, though it had blinds so you could open them when taking a shower....lol
April 39th Friday
Got up this morning, bid our beautiful hotel goodbye, and left for the airport to Malaysia. Upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur we immediately noticed how hot and, in particular, humid it was. We got ourselves a nice airport black taxi and headed into Kuala Lumpur city, the heart and capital of Malaysia. Our taxi driver was excellent. He gave us all kinds of information on the city and kind of gave us a mini tour. So we finally arrived at our hotel and realized that we were in the more un-touristy area of the city. If you want the real Malaysian experience, ya gotta come to Chow-kit. That`s where we were. It was quite uh....real. I mean the area is not for tourists as it`s surroundings and decor and traffic are not attractive to the average tourist. Our hotel, Hotel Sahara, was adequate for budget travlers. Clean and conveniently located near all the big sites and attractions. But the bathroom was quite interesting. The sink, toilet, and shower were not separated. As in, there is no set shower area. The shower hose hung between the toilet and the sink. So when you took a shower you basically got the whole room wet, including the toilet...lol
Anyways, a bit of interesting info for those who don`t know much about Malaysia. Malaysia is a Muslim country. But the main population (particularly on the east side) consists of Chinese, Indian, and Malays. So there`s alot of languages and religions going on here. Moreover, they used to be a British colony up until 50 years ago so everyone here speaks English and everything is written in English. So Erika and I had no problems getting around whatsoever. Now, speaking of the religion part/tradition/culture, I noticed something very interesting that really opened my eyes.
The Malaysian women, being all Muslim, wear beautiful scarves around their head that only covers their hair and usually wear pants and long sleeves. Then there are the more strict Muslim women who cover themselves from head to toe (literally) in black cloth and only allow their eyes to show through, like the women we`ve been seeing in the American media in Afghanistan, etc. Only, these women walk side by side with skimpily dressed Chinese girls and tank top wearing Indian girls. It`s very interesting to see because the conservative Muslim women don`t seem to mind being friends with/or being seen with/being near to the other women who aren`t so covered up. Everyone`s content with one another. However, for couples, you always only see Chinese and Chinese, Indian and Indian, or maybe Chinese and Indian, but never Malaysian and Chinese/Indian. The Malaysians also only go for other Malaysians because of their religion. If you want to marry or go out with a Malaysian girl/guy you have to convert to being a Muslim. So all these people will walk side by side, but are never really integrated. You`ll see all three races shopping in the same clothing store, but for different clothes. That was very interesting to watch.
The Muslim women (the strict ones included), however, seem perfectly happy with their lives and the men treat them quite well it seems. The women are actually free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn`t go against their religion. They don`t have to walk behind their husbands, they carry designer handbags of all flashy colors, and seem to be able to wear whatever they like as long as it covers majority of their body. Meaning no show of legs (sandals/flip-flops are okay to wear though) and no tank tops or sleeveless tops. Then again, this is Malaysia where I`m sure is not as strict on these things as the countries where the religion originated. Oh, and there are mosques everywhere.
Anyways, back on track. After arriving in our hotel and taking a leisurely walk around the surrounding areas of the hotel we went to Chinatown. And there, we shopped, got stalked by a creepy Indian man trying to make us go into his shop, and ate wonderful nostalgic (well, nostalgic for me) food. No Malaysian food yet, just Chinese food. But it`s authentic Chinese food that I haven`t had in forever and I missed it terribly. I didn`t realize how much I missed it until I popped the sweet roast pork (Cha-shu) in my mouth. Man... Oh and the fruit! Man, the fruit juice was excellent there. Way good!
That night, after returning back to our hotel, we walked around our area for a bit. It was quite shady to say the least and dirty. Coming from beautiful clean Hokkaido Japan, Malaysia was pretty disturbing. But that`s how all the Southeast asian countries (besides Singapore) are compared to Japan. Live like the locals do I suppose.
May 1 Saturday
Today we took the Monorail to the Golden Triangle area. The monorail broke down and we gave up and just decided to walk to our destination, which wasn`t far. I had wanted to head over to Bukit Bintang area for some shopping. So we broke down at the perfect stop. We entered the Sugei Wang plaza, which is this giant giant shopping mall. Like bigger than any I`ve ever been to. We walked around for a while, realized that none of these clothes would fit us and just kept walking around. My feet, for some reaon, started to get really tired and sore real fast. Boo. Anyways, after that, we walked over he Berjaya Times Square, which is a higher level mall complete with the largest indoor theme park in all of Southeast Asia. It was awesome...though we didn`t buy too much. haha.
From there we went to KL Tower which looks like the Stratosphere. I had reserved us dinner there at the restaurant on the top of the tower. The view from the top was breathtaking. Absolutely. The restaurant revolves giving you a full 360 degree view of the city. The food was great and I was stuffed. We spent 2 hours in the restaurant revolving until we came back around to where we started. And then left to go back down. We had wanted to go to Little India, but it seemed to be already closed. So we just headed back to our hotel and chilled.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
PEPY Bike Ride
April 13th Tuesday
Beginning of teaching my 3rd and 2nd years at the high school. The second year class was the same as they were last year, negative. lol Their attitudes about everything in every class is always so negative and I feel my enthusiasm being drained out by them...nevertheless, I tried my best with the kiddies and produced some okay results. The 3rd years however have become my new favorite class at the high school. They`re so enthusiastic about English and insist that everything be spoken in English in class. Amazing! Such great kids and I look forward to teaching them.
In the evening, I don`t know what was wrong with me, but I totally forgot that I had a welcome enkai for my new middle school teachers. I think it`s because of alot of things going on lately that my mind just hasn`t been focusing. And if I don`t have my schedule book organized or have things written down on them, I will most surely forget. I was wandering around the 100yen shop when I got a phone call from one of the teachers to ask if I was still coming to the enkai. And I was like, "Oh, shit!" And immediately left to go. I was an hour and a half late to it....Yeah. When I got there I apologized profusely and sat in the only open seat which was next to the principal at the boy`s end of the table. It was a little awkward at first because I`m not much of a fan of the new principal, but after a little bit, it became better. I still ended up having to pay for my meal even though I only ate a bowl of sukiyaki because I was full from already having eaten...Not smart of me. Ah well.
April 16th Friday
After school I left to get on the train to Kutchan. This weekend is the PEPY bike ride. All the money/donations received from the ride are used to build orphanages for children in Cambodia. So whatever amount of money we raise will all go to that which is something I`m quite proud to be a part of. Plus, I get to see Erika and Steph. Woo!
The train ride from my town to Kutchan takes about 5 hours with an hour break in between. I met up with my friends in Sapporo and we all took the train together to Kutchan. It was so much fun being able to talk and see them again. ^^ When we got to Kutchan train station, the guy whose apt we were staying at came to pick us up. He was from London! Cool guy and it was very nice of him to let us stay at his place. His place was quaint and not bad except a little dirty with many kinds of bugs crawling around. The three of us girls slept in one of the extra tatami rooms he had.
April 17th Saturday
This morning we woke up and got ready for the bike ride. The ride starts off in Niseko area (which is a popular ski resort area and has many many Australians), goes down to Kutchan, and ends with a BBQ near the agricultural high school. We were equipped with some really nice rental bikes, a helmet and a water bottle. And let me tell ya, the helmet is far from making a fashion statement. It just looks terrible on me. lol And I have really bad experiences with helmet hair and this was an example of that. Anyways, the ride up was hot because of all the slopes we went up, but we stopped off at Weiss Hotel at the top of the mountain area and had some coffee. The employee at the the front desk was really quite cute, but looked a little too young for us. Like fresh out of high school. =P The scenery was beautiful during the ride, though! It was refreshing and a wonderful feeling.
The ride down was freezing! There was still snow everywhere and it was quite cold because of the wind. My ears felt like they were going to fall off, but I made it to the high school area okay. We had a delicious burger BBQ for lunch with other ALTs from around the area who came and then went back to our friend`s apt to chill until the play put on by HAJET to raise money for HEC started. My butt, particularly my crotch area, was sore. Very sore. THe other girls were having the same problem. I mean these bike seats were ridiculous narrow and the tip of the seat area was long and thin. Not comfortable. We got back to the apt and I had to carefully sit down because if I sat down too fast too hard, pain would shoot up through my body.
We then got changed and went to the play. There were so many half children there! It amazed me because I`m so used to always seeing plain Japanese people in my area that seeing so much hybrid kids was shocking. haha. But then again, we are in Niseko. So, afterwards we went to go eat at a superbly good pizza parlor. It was delicious! And they had real cheesecake!!! When that was over we went to a party in a rented lodge for someone`s birthday whom we didn`t really know. But we were invited, so we went. However, a couple of the girls we were with fell asleep and so we decided to head on back to the apt for night of well deserved rest.
April 18 Sunday
Woke up, bid goodbye to the guy who let us stay at his place and left on our train. I parted with steph and erika in Sapporo and came back home. Ah, it feels great to be back home. =)
Beginning of teaching my 3rd and 2nd years at the high school. The second year class was the same as they were last year, negative. lol Their attitudes about everything in every class is always so negative and I feel my enthusiasm being drained out by them...nevertheless, I tried my best with the kiddies and produced some okay results. The 3rd years however have become my new favorite class at the high school. They`re so enthusiastic about English and insist that everything be spoken in English in class. Amazing! Such great kids and I look forward to teaching them.
In the evening, I don`t know what was wrong with me, but I totally forgot that I had a welcome enkai for my new middle school teachers. I think it`s because of alot of things going on lately that my mind just hasn`t been focusing. And if I don`t have my schedule book organized or have things written down on them, I will most surely forget. I was wandering around the 100yen shop when I got a phone call from one of the teachers to ask if I was still coming to the enkai. And I was like, "Oh, shit!" And immediately left to go. I was an hour and a half late to it....Yeah. When I got there I apologized profusely and sat in the only open seat which was next to the principal at the boy`s end of the table. It was a little awkward at first because I`m not much of a fan of the new principal, but after a little bit, it became better. I still ended up having to pay for my meal even though I only ate a bowl of sukiyaki because I was full from already having eaten...Not smart of me. Ah well.
April 16th Friday
After school I left to get on the train to Kutchan. This weekend is the PEPY bike ride. All the money/donations received from the ride are used to build orphanages for children in Cambodia. So whatever amount of money we raise will all go to that which is something I`m quite proud to be a part of. Plus, I get to see Erika and Steph. Woo!
The train ride from my town to Kutchan takes about 5 hours with an hour break in between. I met up with my friends in Sapporo and we all took the train together to Kutchan. It was so much fun being able to talk and see them again. ^^ When we got to Kutchan train station, the guy whose apt we were staying at came to pick us up. He was from London! Cool guy and it was very nice of him to let us stay at his place. His place was quaint and not bad except a little dirty with many kinds of bugs crawling around. The three of us girls slept in one of the extra tatami rooms he had.
April 17th Saturday
This morning we woke up and got ready for the bike ride. The ride starts off in Niseko area (which is a popular ski resort area and has many many Australians), goes down to Kutchan, and ends with a BBQ near the agricultural high school. We were equipped with some really nice rental bikes, a helmet and a water bottle. And let me tell ya, the helmet is far from making a fashion statement. It just looks terrible on me. lol And I have really bad experiences with helmet hair and this was an example of that. Anyways, the ride up was hot because of all the slopes we went up, but we stopped off at Weiss Hotel at the top of the mountain area and had some coffee. The employee at the the front desk was really quite cute, but looked a little too young for us. Like fresh out of high school. =P The scenery was beautiful during the ride, though! It was refreshing and a wonderful feeling.
The ride down was freezing! There was still snow everywhere and it was quite cold because of the wind. My ears felt like they were going to fall off, but I made it to the high school area okay. We had a delicious burger BBQ for lunch with other ALTs from around the area who came and then went back to our friend`s apt to chill until the play put on by HAJET to raise money for HEC started. My butt, particularly my crotch area, was sore. Very sore. THe other girls were having the same problem. I mean these bike seats were ridiculous narrow and the tip of the seat area was long and thin. Not comfortable. We got back to the apt and I had to carefully sit down because if I sat down too fast too hard, pain would shoot up through my body.
We then got changed and went to the play. There were so many half children there! It amazed me because I`m so used to always seeing plain Japanese people in my area that seeing so much hybrid kids was shocking. haha. But then again, we are in Niseko. So, afterwards we went to go eat at a superbly good pizza parlor. It was delicious! And they had real cheesecake!!! When that was over we went to a party in a rented lodge for someone`s birthday whom we didn`t really know. But we were invited, so we went. However, a couple of the girls we were with fell asleep and so we decided to head on back to the apt for night of well deserved rest.
April 18 Sunday
Woke up, bid goodbye to the guy who let us stay at his place and left on our train. I parted with steph and erika in Sapporo and came back home. Ah, it feels great to be back home. =)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Young mamas and a hungover Japanese Teacher of English (JTE)
April 3rd Saturday
So I woke up bright and early this morning to get everything ready to go say goodbye to Yuki, since she`s leaving for Mashike this morning at 8:30. Or so I thought. Turns out she left alot earlier, like at 8am because of the bad weather and it takes her 3 hours to drive to her new town. She sent me a text message, but I didn`t read it until late. So it was already too late to see her off. But I did call her later to tell her goodbye. And we`ll definitely still keep in contact.
Afterwards, I headed for the train station to take a 4 hour train ride down to Muroran to hang with Steph for her Easter brunch on Sunday. I got there at about 1:30 and was amazed at the largeness of the station! It was huge and beautiful and the building was pretty neat too. You walked out of the ticket eating machine and are in a large hall that had benches facing the wall made of windows. You could see part of the city from there. It was pretty awesome.
Steph came to meet me and we headed off to go eat. We ended up going to this quaint little cafe tucked away in an alleyway called Coala. Not koala, but coala. Heh. It was cute and decked out with koalas and Australian parapernelia. I ordered a milk sekki which was apparantly like a milk shake, except not...And Steph had this interesting looking concoction of lemonade with red wine floating on top. It was pretty good though. We also ordered sausage and shrimp pizza! That was yummy. We sat there talking for awhile longer before we headed back out to do some shopping for tomorrow`s feast.
At the supermarket we loaded up on booze and ingredients to make my peanut butter balls and Steph`s clafoutie. Originally, we were going to go to my friend`s to have dinner since she said she`d prepare a Chinese meal for us. It sounded amazing, but unfortunately, Steph and I had alot to do that night in preparation for the next day so we decided to just eat at a local restaurant around Muroran. Two other girls came as well! And we decided on curry ramen because I had really wanted to try it. And it was absolutely amazing! One of the best kinds of ramen, ever! So damn good! But, it just sprayed everywhere as we ate, which is why Steph was smart and wore a t-shirt on top of her nicer shirt to keep it from getting dirty. lol The owner chatted us up a bit as we payed our bill. Interesting man.
We then went to a place called "Thriller" which was some mix of a dungeon and cemetary themed karaoke box. We got a nice room, drank lotsa alcohol, and sang our hearts out. Then we all parted ways and Steph and I decided to go try Muroran`s famous yakitori at a little izakaya we`ve never been to. The food was good, although the design of the place could`ve been a little better. Anyways, we went home, drank more alcohol and got to working on dying eggs and making my peanut butter balls. And she had real Skippy peanut butter! Like wow! I haven`t seen that in forever! Oh man, and the taste was the real thing. Ah, American peanut butter, how I have missed thee. Japanese peanut butter just tastes like peanuts. But I guess it`s somewhat healthier for you because there`s no added sugars...lol
April 4th Easter Sunday
Easter brunch time! Many foreigners in one small Japanese apt makes for crowded. And there were also so many people that were brought by other people whom neither Steph or I knew. It was kind of way too many people to have at the brunch. Someone also invited another family to come along, and they had 2 lil girls. They weren`t bad, actually. The kids were wonderful and the family was interesting to talk to. But there were just so many people there I wasn`t sure what to do with myself. Steph seemed pretty stressed out, so I decided to go help and chill with her. We had a couple shots of sake (well, steph more than myself) and a nice walk outside to calm us down. I like parties, but once they get too big to be able to have a good conversation with individual guests I kinda shrink away. I like to have parties where everyone`s involved in every conversation or at least together. But parties that form groups and cliques I don`t do too well with.
Steph, however, even under all that stress and wiggin out, did a good job of hosting the party. Everything went well, and the food turned out well. All in all, a good party. At 6pm I headed for the train station to catch my train back to my town. I arrived at 11:30pm and soon passed out on my bed. lol
April 5th Monday
Entrance ceremony for my nursery babies. They`re so cute and fidgety! Oh babies. I stayed the whole day at the nursery today because classes/school haven`t started. The teachers at the school all ordered some sort of bento and I ordered one as well. OMG it was amazing looking! I ordered a set that consisted of shrimp tempura soba, 6 pieces of sushi, tsukemono, and chawanmushi. SOOO good! And they delivered it all for us. Check it out in my photo album on facebook. Other than that, nothing else really happened this day.
April 6th Tuesday
Double entrance ceremonies. One at the elementary and one at the middle school. The first one was the elementary for the new 1st graders. It was sooo cute! All the 1st graders wore lil suits and dresses. Their parents were all crazy nicely dressed. Like, the dads were in suits and the moms were in kimonos and suits/dresses. I wanna wear a kimono...with a hakama. Those are cool. So, yet another formal ceremony where all my babies were pretty nervous looking. But upon seeing my face, many of the 1st years that I taught at the nursery got all excited and lit up. I`m elated to know that I am the cause of that. haha.
Oh dude, the moms. They are sooo young looking! No, they are young! And there are 36 kids this year! That`s alot of kids in one class, especially for a small town. I mean, a town of 3,000 or so people and 36 couples in one year all decided to have a child! For a large city that`s nothing and normal. But for a town as small as mine? The more I think about it and look at the trend that`s been going on lately, I feel like, for many of these mom`s, having a child is the thing to do. Like it`s a trend and they`re following it. I mean all the moms are the same age or relatively the same and many of them are friends. And there are other factors with it too. It`s just that many of these moms are having children just to keep up with the family image...I don`t know...I`m not saying it`s bad to go and pop out a child so early. But, maybe it`s because we`re in the countryside, that there`s nothing much else to do. I`m just making an observation. =P
So after the kids had their ceremony, they had a short orientation with their new homeroom teacher and went on home. All the other grades did the same. After, I left to go to the middle school`s entrance ceremony.
Man, all my lil 6th graders are so grown up now, wearing their uniforms and all. I can`t call them 6th graders anymore either since they`re now middleschool 1st years. This has to be my favorite class of all time. Amazing kids, they are. Anyways, they were sooo nervous looking! When I went up there with all the teachers to introduce ourselves they had pained nervous wreck looks on their faces. lol It was kind of funny actually, to which I made fun of them for it later. hehe.
So by this time, I was already pretty tired of all the ceremonies and all the long-ass speeches that are always made at every ceremony. I was already starting to fall asleep on them. Seriously, these speeches are given by 3 people with boring monotonous voices, each lasting about 10 minutes. Ridiculous! Way too long to keep any child`s attention span, hence, me falling asleep. After the ceremony, however, everyone went home and I went back to finish up at the elementary.
April 7th Wednesday
Today, the new middle school 1st years get to learn about the clubs they can join. Each club got up to showcase their activities and practices which was really cute. lol They also got the 1st years involved in some demos. I got to talk to my 1st years alot today, so i`m happy.
After school I headed to the gym that`s only open for late hours on wednesday night. Weekdays it opens from 10am to 5pm, but I sometimes don`t get out of work until 5pm or 4:30 making it difficult for me to get in workout times. But on Wednesday nights they open from 5pm-8pm. Yes! So it`s my first time going in there and I wasn`t sure where it was in the health center and I wasn`t expecting it to have much. When I got there, my friends who work there were surprised to see me. I told them I was here to use the training room and asked where it was. Mizutani-san showed me around and then took me to the training room. I stepped in there and was amazed!! It was much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I imagined the little gyms they equip you with at apartment complexes in the states with only 4 or 5 machines available. But, omg, this place was huge compared to that. I mean, it`s no ARC at UCI, but still. It had 3 treadmills, 6 bikes (half of which are different types of bikes), 3 weird looking stepping machines, 6 different weight lifting machines, a section for old people to work out, an assortment of dumbells, and mats.
But the two most amazing and surprising things were 1)the massaging stones course and 2)the relaxation capsules. You know those smooth stones embedded in the floor and you walk on them to massage your feet? Well, they have a full indoor course of it! There are different sections in the course with different sized stones and placed sporadically. So, some areas feel good to walk on, whereas others just hurt. But it`s supposed to be good pain. And you ahve to continue this course for 5 minutes to get the full effect. It hurts, but I know it`s good for me. lol I`m kind of masochistic like that. The other thing is the capsules. These things are made for the purpose of relaxation and sweating. You lie in these capsules and it becomes a sort of sauna where you can adjust the heat. It has vibrations, a timer to wake you up if you fall asleep, a music head set, and even aroma therapy. And best thing of all is that it`s all free!!! FREE!!! Woo! I was like, i can`t believe this place is so high tech and yet everything is free! I spent a good 2 hours in there lifting weights and using the one mirror they had in the room to practice dancing.
April 9th Friday
OMG, this morning was ridiculous!!!! >.< I knew this morning that my JTE was not looking too good. I just wasn`t sure what was wrong. Before the morning teacher`s meeting he told me, "Theresa, I need to talk to you about class plans for today after the meeting." Usually, he won`t say that to me and just gives me the plan before class and I go along with it. So I knew something was up. After the meeting he just looked at me and said "Theresa, I have a really bad hangover today. I`m really hungover from the PTA welcome party last night." Oh great. Great! Hangover! And...? "Well, I won`t really be able to teach today, so can you please take over and do games and activites and use the textbook with the students instead?" And this was 15 minutes before my first English class...of the new school year. Outside I just looked calm and laughed and gave a kind of uncertain look before saying "Yeah, alright. No problem." But in my head I was really thinking, `You have got to be kidding me.` 15 minutes before class and I`m supposed to come up with a lesson plan to teach for the whole hour? For the other classes we have today too!?? 15 minutes!!! I was seriously not prepared for this. At all.
So I was scrambling to find a lesson plan and to think of something. And I managed to come up with something. Although while in class, I was actually making alot of shit up as I went. Some kind of idea would just pop into my head as I was teaching and I`d carry it out. The class was okay. I taught the 2nd years first. They were a little confused as to why I was teaching and I didn`t want to tell them because that would be inappropriate I thought. But then my JTE just went ahead and told them, "Oh, I`m not feeling too good today because I have a hangover from the PTA party last night." And I just stared at him for a minute because I just couldn`t believe that he said that! Never had any teachers I knew ever say that to their students. Like, did you really just say that to the kids? Well, whatever, I tried to make the class fun and enjoyable for the kids. I mean it wasn`t as good as the classes I have planned out before because I only had 15 minutes, but it still went well. My JTE just stood to the side....trying to get a hold of himself.
After class he told me he was feeling a little dizzy because everything seems to still be moving around, like the floor...Oh good. Anyways, the second class was my 1st years who were my 6th grade class last year. My fav. They are so good at English that it surprised my JTE. He just asked me to lead the class in what they know so that he can guage what he needs to teach them later (and so he can recuperate). I was totally fine with that as I know this class very well. And my students trust me in teaching and remembered that English was fun for them. So they let go of their serious hard-at-studying selves and followed me into weird English land. =P Good kids. Even my mentally disabled kid was able to read ABCs and spell and say actions in English. So proud of them! I told the JTE afterwards to just use mostly English with them because they can handle it. He was quite surprised at their high level. Well then, shows you that these kids can handle anything!
Afterwards I had the high school`s entrance ceremony. Yet another one. I endured through that too, but I started drifting off alittle. Anyways, after the ceremony I came back to the middle school and lounged around, tired.
So I woke up bright and early this morning to get everything ready to go say goodbye to Yuki, since she`s leaving for Mashike this morning at 8:30. Or so I thought. Turns out she left alot earlier, like at 8am because of the bad weather and it takes her 3 hours to drive to her new town. She sent me a text message, but I didn`t read it until late. So it was already too late to see her off. But I did call her later to tell her goodbye. And we`ll definitely still keep in contact.
Afterwards, I headed for the train station to take a 4 hour train ride down to Muroran to hang with Steph for her Easter brunch on Sunday. I got there at about 1:30 and was amazed at the largeness of the station! It was huge and beautiful and the building was pretty neat too. You walked out of the ticket eating machine and are in a large hall that had benches facing the wall made of windows. You could see part of the city from there. It was pretty awesome.
Steph came to meet me and we headed off to go eat. We ended up going to this quaint little cafe tucked away in an alleyway called Coala. Not koala, but coala. Heh. It was cute and decked out with koalas and Australian parapernelia. I ordered a milk sekki which was apparantly like a milk shake, except not...And Steph had this interesting looking concoction of lemonade with red wine floating on top. It was pretty good though. We also ordered sausage and shrimp pizza! That was yummy. We sat there talking for awhile longer before we headed back out to do some shopping for tomorrow`s feast.
At the supermarket we loaded up on booze and ingredients to make my peanut butter balls and Steph`s clafoutie. Originally, we were going to go to my friend`s to have dinner since she said she`d prepare a Chinese meal for us. It sounded amazing, but unfortunately, Steph and I had alot to do that night in preparation for the next day so we decided to just eat at a local restaurant around Muroran. Two other girls came as well! And we decided on curry ramen because I had really wanted to try it. And it was absolutely amazing! One of the best kinds of ramen, ever! So damn good! But, it just sprayed everywhere as we ate, which is why Steph was smart and wore a t-shirt on top of her nicer shirt to keep it from getting dirty. lol The owner chatted us up a bit as we payed our bill. Interesting man.
We then went to a place called "Thriller" which was some mix of a dungeon and cemetary themed karaoke box. We got a nice room, drank lotsa alcohol, and sang our hearts out. Then we all parted ways and Steph and I decided to go try Muroran`s famous yakitori at a little izakaya we`ve never been to. The food was good, although the design of the place could`ve been a little better. Anyways, we went home, drank more alcohol and got to working on dying eggs and making my peanut butter balls. And she had real Skippy peanut butter! Like wow! I haven`t seen that in forever! Oh man, and the taste was the real thing. Ah, American peanut butter, how I have missed thee. Japanese peanut butter just tastes like peanuts. But I guess it`s somewhat healthier for you because there`s no added sugars...lol
April 4th Easter Sunday
Easter brunch time! Many foreigners in one small Japanese apt makes for crowded. And there were also so many people that were brought by other people whom neither Steph or I knew. It was kind of way too many people to have at the brunch. Someone also invited another family to come along, and they had 2 lil girls. They weren`t bad, actually. The kids were wonderful and the family was interesting to talk to. But there were just so many people there I wasn`t sure what to do with myself. Steph seemed pretty stressed out, so I decided to go help and chill with her. We had a couple shots of sake (well, steph more than myself) and a nice walk outside to calm us down. I like parties, but once they get too big to be able to have a good conversation with individual guests I kinda shrink away. I like to have parties where everyone`s involved in every conversation or at least together. But parties that form groups and cliques I don`t do too well with.
Steph, however, even under all that stress and wiggin out, did a good job of hosting the party. Everything went well, and the food turned out well. All in all, a good party. At 6pm I headed for the train station to catch my train back to my town. I arrived at 11:30pm and soon passed out on my bed. lol
April 5th Monday
Entrance ceremony for my nursery babies. They`re so cute and fidgety! Oh babies. I stayed the whole day at the nursery today because classes/school haven`t started. The teachers at the school all ordered some sort of bento and I ordered one as well. OMG it was amazing looking! I ordered a set that consisted of shrimp tempura soba, 6 pieces of sushi, tsukemono, and chawanmushi. SOOO good! And they delivered it all for us. Check it out in my photo album on facebook. Other than that, nothing else really happened this day.
April 6th Tuesday
Double entrance ceremonies. One at the elementary and one at the middle school. The first one was the elementary for the new 1st graders. It was sooo cute! All the 1st graders wore lil suits and dresses. Their parents were all crazy nicely dressed. Like, the dads were in suits and the moms were in kimonos and suits/dresses. I wanna wear a kimono...with a hakama. Those are cool. So, yet another formal ceremony where all my babies were pretty nervous looking. But upon seeing my face, many of the 1st years that I taught at the nursery got all excited and lit up. I`m elated to know that I am the cause of that. haha.
Oh dude, the moms. They are sooo young looking! No, they are young! And there are 36 kids this year! That`s alot of kids in one class, especially for a small town. I mean, a town of 3,000 or so people and 36 couples in one year all decided to have a child! For a large city that`s nothing and normal. But for a town as small as mine? The more I think about it and look at the trend that`s been going on lately, I feel like, for many of these mom`s, having a child is the thing to do. Like it`s a trend and they`re following it. I mean all the moms are the same age or relatively the same and many of them are friends. And there are other factors with it too. It`s just that many of these moms are having children just to keep up with the family image...I don`t know...I`m not saying it`s bad to go and pop out a child so early. But, maybe it`s because we`re in the countryside, that there`s nothing much else to do. I`m just making an observation. =P
So after the kids had their ceremony, they had a short orientation with their new homeroom teacher and went on home. All the other grades did the same. After, I left to go to the middle school`s entrance ceremony.
Man, all my lil 6th graders are so grown up now, wearing their uniforms and all. I can`t call them 6th graders anymore either since they`re now middleschool 1st years. This has to be my favorite class of all time. Amazing kids, they are. Anyways, they were sooo nervous looking! When I went up there with all the teachers to introduce ourselves they had pained nervous wreck looks on their faces. lol It was kind of funny actually, to which I made fun of them for it later. hehe.
So by this time, I was already pretty tired of all the ceremonies and all the long-ass speeches that are always made at every ceremony. I was already starting to fall asleep on them. Seriously, these speeches are given by 3 people with boring monotonous voices, each lasting about 10 minutes. Ridiculous! Way too long to keep any child`s attention span, hence, me falling asleep. After the ceremony, however, everyone went home and I went back to finish up at the elementary.
April 7th Wednesday
Today, the new middle school 1st years get to learn about the clubs they can join. Each club got up to showcase their activities and practices which was really cute. lol They also got the 1st years involved in some demos. I got to talk to my 1st years alot today, so i`m happy.
After school I headed to the gym that`s only open for late hours on wednesday night. Weekdays it opens from 10am to 5pm, but I sometimes don`t get out of work until 5pm or 4:30 making it difficult for me to get in workout times. But on Wednesday nights they open from 5pm-8pm. Yes! So it`s my first time going in there and I wasn`t sure where it was in the health center and I wasn`t expecting it to have much. When I got there, my friends who work there were surprised to see me. I told them I was here to use the training room and asked where it was. Mizutani-san showed me around and then took me to the training room. I stepped in there and was amazed!! It was much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I imagined the little gyms they equip you with at apartment complexes in the states with only 4 or 5 machines available. But, omg, this place was huge compared to that. I mean, it`s no ARC at UCI, but still. It had 3 treadmills, 6 bikes (half of which are different types of bikes), 3 weird looking stepping machines, 6 different weight lifting machines, a section for old people to work out, an assortment of dumbells, and mats.
But the two most amazing and surprising things were 1)the massaging stones course and 2)the relaxation capsules. You know those smooth stones embedded in the floor and you walk on them to massage your feet? Well, they have a full indoor course of it! There are different sections in the course with different sized stones and placed sporadically. So, some areas feel good to walk on, whereas others just hurt. But it`s supposed to be good pain. And you ahve to continue this course for 5 minutes to get the full effect. It hurts, but I know it`s good for me. lol I`m kind of masochistic like that. The other thing is the capsules. These things are made for the purpose of relaxation and sweating. You lie in these capsules and it becomes a sort of sauna where you can adjust the heat. It has vibrations, a timer to wake you up if you fall asleep, a music head set, and even aroma therapy. And best thing of all is that it`s all free!!! FREE!!! Woo! I was like, i can`t believe this place is so high tech and yet everything is free! I spent a good 2 hours in there lifting weights and using the one mirror they had in the room to practice dancing.
April 9th Friday
OMG, this morning was ridiculous!!!! >.< I knew this morning that my JTE was not looking too good. I just wasn`t sure what was wrong. Before the morning teacher`s meeting he told me, "Theresa, I need to talk to you about class plans for today after the meeting." Usually, he won`t say that to me and just gives me the plan before class and I go along with it. So I knew something was up. After the meeting he just looked at me and said "Theresa, I have a really bad hangover today. I`m really hungover from the PTA welcome party last night." Oh great. Great! Hangover! And...? "Well, I won`t really be able to teach today, so can you please take over and do games and activites and use the textbook with the students instead?" And this was 15 minutes before my first English class...of the new school year. Outside I just looked calm and laughed and gave a kind of uncertain look before saying "Yeah, alright. No problem." But in my head I was really thinking, `You have got to be kidding me.` 15 minutes before class and I`m supposed to come up with a lesson plan to teach for the whole hour? For the other classes we have today too!?? 15 minutes!!! I was seriously not prepared for this. At all.
So I was scrambling to find a lesson plan and to think of something. And I managed to come up with something. Although while in class, I was actually making alot of shit up as I went. Some kind of idea would just pop into my head as I was teaching and I`d carry it out. The class was okay. I taught the 2nd years first. They were a little confused as to why I was teaching and I didn`t want to tell them because that would be inappropriate I thought. But then my JTE just went ahead and told them, "Oh, I`m not feeling too good today because I have a hangover from the PTA party last night." And I just stared at him for a minute because I just couldn`t believe that he said that! Never had any teachers I knew ever say that to their students. Like, did you really just say that to the kids? Well, whatever, I tried to make the class fun and enjoyable for the kids. I mean it wasn`t as good as the classes I have planned out before because I only had 15 minutes, but it still went well. My JTE just stood to the side....trying to get a hold of himself.
After class he told me he was feeling a little dizzy because everything seems to still be moving around, like the floor...Oh good. Anyways, the second class was my 1st years who were my 6th grade class last year. My fav. They are so good at English that it surprised my JTE. He just asked me to lead the class in what they know so that he can guage what he needs to teach them later (and so he can recuperate). I was totally fine with that as I know this class very well. And my students trust me in teaching and remembered that English was fun for them. So they let go of their serious hard-at-studying selves and followed me into weird English land. =P Good kids. Even my mentally disabled kid was able to read ABCs and spell and say actions in English. So proud of them! I told the JTE afterwards to just use mostly English with them because they can handle it. He was quite surprised at their high level. Well then, shows you that these kids can handle anything!
Afterwards I had the high school`s entrance ceremony. Yet another one. I endured through that too, but I started drifting off alittle. Anyways, after the ceremony I came back to the middle school and lounged around, tired.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
A Small Pang in my Heart
March 28 Sunday
Today I had dinner at Tama-chan`s apt. Her mother had came all the way from Kutchan to visit her and made a crap load of food, so she invited all of us over to eat. I was a little tired this day, but it was free food, so I had to go. Her mother made delicious karaage, okonomiyaki, ramen-salad, cheese eggrolls (incredibly bad for you, but yummy), and flan. It was so damn good!!! Wraah. *o*
And at this time, since I wasn`t talking very much and the other girls were having a merry conversation, I decided to text Mr. Wonderful to see about dinner next week. I asked Yuki, beforehand, if she wanted to have dinner too, so that it would be a friendly get together with people of the same age. Remember, I`m not aiming for his love anymore, just aiming to be friends. However, the text didn`t work properly, so I had no choice but to call him. I stepped outside for a minute to call him. I was actually surprisingly calm about the call. I just directly asked him, "Hey! I was wondering if you`re free to eat dinner next Tuesday with Yuki and I?" "Ah....Yes! I am free that night!" "Alright then! That`s great! I`ll talk to you more about that later. Oh, and, sorry, but could you send me your cell mail address? Because I wasn`t able to get through to your inbox so I had to call you instead." "Yeah, sure." And we then said our goodbyes and hung up. I was proud of myself. hehe.
I went back to the party, but at around 9pm, I went back home, happy.
March 29th Monday
Today was the ending ceremony/graduation at my nursery....Yeah, at the nursery. You heard me right. My little 6 and 7 year olds had a graduation ceremony from the nursery. A really formal one, with alot of bowing and diploma receiving....All the kids wore their best formal clothes, so little suits and dresses that you would normally see at a wedding ceremony. It was very cute, though. And the kids looked so adorable, but there were such formal procedures that they had to go through to get their diploma and stuff. It was a little too much in my opinion. But cute, nonetheless. I spent the rest of the day after the ceremony at the nursery, playing with the babies. heeee. >U<
March 30th Tuesday
So today, since the school`s on spring break there are no students. But unfortunately, the teachers still all have to come to work throughout the break. >.< ugh. But we`re allowed to wear more relaxed clothes like jeans. I don`t really understand why, but in schools in Japan, track suits and sportswear are considered a higher level or above jeans. o.O I`ll never understand why, but we`re not allowed to wear jeans during school time. But sweats are totally okay...
I was helping the teachers clean up their classrooms and organizing things. But at the same time I also decided to go and see if Mr. Wonderful was in his room to talk to him to see if he remembers the dinner tonight. Cuz he tends to forget...I guess. But, now because I think of him as just a friend (well, i still have feelings for him) it feels easier to talk to him than before. So I was able to really speak casually with him. I was like, "Hey. So for dinner tonight, it will be at 6:30. Is that okay?" When he said yes I told him to meet me in front of Seico Mart. I was walking out of the classroom in the hallway when I heard my name being called by him. I turned around to see his body half out the door. "Theresa-sensei, are we going by car? Or what are we doing?" "I`ll drive!" And smiled at him and turned to walk back down the hall.
I was actually busy helping organize and clean the 1st grade classroom that Yuki and I didn`t finish until 5:30. So we had an hour to get home, chill, and get ready for dinner. At 6:30 I went to Seico Mart to pick both of them up. Mr. Wonderful was looking as good as ever in his hot clothes. We got in the car, took a little bit to decide where we wanted to go eat and decided on Shuraku, my favorite izakaya.
We had a pleasant conversation in the car driving there, but I didn`t talk very much because I wasn`t exactly sure what they were talking about. So I would just nod and keep my eyes on the road, but have the occasional response. When we got there, the only room they had was at the bar. So we all sat at the bar. Mr. Wonderful sat in between Yuki and I. We ordered food and drinks and sat around talking. I didn`t really talk too much because of lack of understanding, but he was sweet enough to try and help me understand our conversation. I also finally retold him about my interest in flowers and stuff, which is opposite of him because he has more interest in birds and none in flowers. But he found it interesting because we share the same passion. Camping too.
Well, at around 9pm we left and went home. I dropped him off at his apt. But before he left my car I told him, "If you ever want to practice your English or talk about camping and hiking, you can email me. And is it okay if I message you for this stuff too?" To which he replied, "Yes. I will and you can. Alright then, thank you very much Theresa." And then he stood outside to wait for me to leave before going back into his apartment. *sigh* I could`ve done better. But, ah well, friendship. Friendship.
March 31 Wednesday
No classes again today, so donned on my jeans and went to the middle school. At 10am, though, I went to the elementary to help with desk moving. So, a little about the Japanese school system here. Every new school year, the teachers change the grade levels they teach. And they`re allowed to be the homeroom teacher for each ascending grade for 2 years. After that they have to be assigned to another class. So my 5th grade teacher last year, is now the 6th grade teacher. The 6th grade teacher last year is now the 5th grade teacher, the 4th grade teacher is still the 4th grade teacher, the 3rd grade teacher is someone new to the school, the 2nd grade teacher was the helping teacher last year, and the 1st grade teacher was the 3rd grade teacher last year. Along with changing grades, the desks in the faculty office change places as well. I used to sit in the middle, but now the moved me to the back corner with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. The 1st-4 grade teachers sit in the middle of the room while the nurse, nutritionist, and the OLs and OMs sit on the other side of the room. It`s not so bad becaue I can see everyone in the room and I face the door, so I can see my kids walking in and out. But yeah....I don`t really get this system.
Actually, I realized that my seat is next to where Mr. Wonderful used to sit. And it gave me a little pang in my heart. If Mr. Wonderful was still here, I`d be sitting next to him. But he`s not anymore...so it`s a little sad. But I was able to see him one last time when I went to his apartment with the other teachers to help him move out. And his apt was how I imagined how a single man`s apt would be like. lol It was kinda dirty lol, and he likes to cook, but doesn`t really clean well, and his bathroom was just terrible...lol Well, we all helped him to move out his stuff and everything and clean his apt. I was impressed with the amount of things he had and what he had. He had a snowboard and ski set, a keyboard, weights for lifting, and a bunch of other cool things. Of course, he`s an ex-bartender. That explains his coolness. haha. @.@
Anyways, as I was helping the other teachers clean stuff, I went into one of his storage rooms which, apparently, also doubles as his closet of sorts. And his clothes were awesome! They were very oshare, but in a mature way. It was all very sexy mature clothes. I was quite enamored by the clothes just hanging there, that I imagine I`d be even more awed when they`re worn. lol I`m a little off my rocker these days.
So after all that, I went back to the middle school to get things settled, but totally forgot to say goodbye to him. I slapped myself later about that and decided to go back to the elementary after work to say goodbye to all the leaving teachers. At 4pm I went back to the elementary to say goodbye to Winnie-the-pooh sensei (my fav) and ran into Mr. Wonderful as I was coming out of the bathroom. Good timing. But all I could say to him was "Thank you for everything. I enjoyed our talks in English. They were fun. If you want to practie more English, just message me. Goodbye!" And then I left school. I didn`t give him any more than that becauese 1)just friends policy at the moment and 2) I forgot what I wanted to say to him.... Ah well, I hopefully will be able to see him again, one day. Until then, I will hold on to hope and go on with life with no regrets.
April 2nd Friday
Today I introduced myself to all the new incoming teachers. It was an assembly at the BOE and all the new teachers and principals/vice principal introduced themselves. The BOE people introduced ourselves also. Everyone did it in Japanese, obviously, so I did mine in English. haha. All the new teachers were confused, and the BOE people said I was pretty cool. =P Not a single hot teacher was there though. sad face.
In the evening was the welcome party for the elementary school. I was lucky enough to sit next Ayumi, the new helper teacher that replaced Yuki. I miss Yuki very much. She`s leaving the next day for a town 3 hours away from here. School just wont be the same without her. My kindred spirit. But Ayumi is the same age as I am and very sweet and easy to talk to. She doesn`t have the same humor as Yuki, but cute nonetheless...However, she`s married. 22 and she`s married...geez...I was like, wow. That`s young. haha. But I liked talking to her and we have the same interests. So I look forward to becoming better friends with her.
Our enkai was delicious and quite fun. I`ve been able to talk a lot to the teachers recently, so it`s a good thing. The new principal`s pretty funny. A little perverted, but funny. He was born on leap year, so even though he`s quite old looking, he`s actually only 14 because of the leap year thing. My first time meeting someone with a birthday on leap year. It`s an interesting phenomonen.
After that, we went to the second party. That was fun too. Drank lots, sang lots, and conversed enough. We then all went home at around 11pm or so. It was a good and tiring evening. And I have to prepare for heading off to Muroran the next day...
Otsukare for reading!
Today I had dinner at Tama-chan`s apt. Her mother had came all the way from Kutchan to visit her and made a crap load of food, so she invited all of us over to eat. I was a little tired this day, but it was free food, so I had to go. Her mother made delicious karaage, okonomiyaki, ramen-salad, cheese eggrolls (incredibly bad for you, but yummy), and flan. It was so damn good!!! Wraah. *o*
And at this time, since I wasn`t talking very much and the other girls were having a merry conversation, I decided to text Mr. Wonderful to see about dinner next week. I asked Yuki, beforehand, if she wanted to have dinner too, so that it would be a friendly get together with people of the same age. Remember, I`m not aiming for his love anymore, just aiming to be friends. However, the text didn`t work properly, so I had no choice but to call him. I stepped outside for a minute to call him. I was actually surprisingly calm about the call. I just directly asked him, "Hey! I was wondering if you`re free to eat dinner next Tuesday with Yuki and I?" "Ah....Yes! I am free that night!" "Alright then! That`s great! I`ll talk to you more about that later. Oh, and, sorry, but could you send me your cell mail address? Because I wasn`t able to get through to your inbox so I had to call you instead." "Yeah, sure." And we then said our goodbyes and hung up. I was proud of myself. hehe.
I went back to the party, but at around 9pm, I went back home, happy.
March 29th Monday
Today was the ending ceremony/graduation at my nursery....Yeah, at the nursery. You heard me right. My little 6 and 7 year olds had a graduation ceremony from the nursery. A really formal one, with alot of bowing and diploma receiving....All the kids wore their best formal clothes, so little suits and dresses that you would normally see at a wedding ceremony. It was very cute, though. And the kids looked so adorable, but there were such formal procedures that they had to go through to get their diploma and stuff. It was a little too much in my opinion. But cute, nonetheless. I spent the rest of the day after the ceremony at the nursery, playing with the babies. heeee. >U<
March 30th Tuesday
So today, since the school`s on spring break there are no students. But unfortunately, the teachers still all have to come to work throughout the break. >.< ugh. But we`re allowed to wear more relaxed clothes like jeans. I don`t really understand why, but in schools in Japan, track suits and sportswear are considered a higher level or above jeans. o.O I`ll never understand why, but we`re not allowed to wear jeans during school time. But sweats are totally okay...
I was helping the teachers clean up their classrooms and organizing things. But at the same time I also decided to go and see if Mr. Wonderful was in his room to talk to him to see if he remembers the dinner tonight. Cuz he tends to forget...I guess. But, now because I think of him as just a friend (well, i still have feelings for him) it feels easier to talk to him than before. So I was able to really speak casually with him. I was like, "Hey. So for dinner tonight, it will be at 6:30. Is that okay?" When he said yes I told him to meet me in front of Seico Mart. I was walking out of the classroom in the hallway when I heard my name being called by him. I turned around to see his body half out the door. "Theresa-sensei, are we going by car? Or what are we doing?" "I`ll drive!" And smiled at him and turned to walk back down the hall.
I was actually busy helping organize and clean the 1st grade classroom that Yuki and I didn`t finish until 5:30. So we had an hour to get home, chill, and get ready for dinner. At 6:30 I went to Seico Mart to pick both of them up. Mr. Wonderful was looking as good as ever in his hot clothes. We got in the car, took a little bit to decide where we wanted to go eat and decided on Shuraku, my favorite izakaya.
We had a pleasant conversation in the car driving there, but I didn`t talk very much because I wasn`t exactly sure what they were talking about. So I would just nod and keep my eyes on the road, but have the occasional response. When we got there, the only room they had was at the bar. So we all sat at the bar. Mr. Wonderful sat in between Yuki and I. We ordered food and drinks and sat around talking. I didn`t really talk too much because of lack of understanding, but he was sweet enough to try and help me understand our conversation. I also finally retold him about my interest in flowers and stuff, which is opposite of him because he has more interest in birds and none in flowers. But he found it interesting because we share the same passion. Camping too.
Well, at around 9pm we left and went home. I dropped him off at his apt. But before he left my car I told him, "If you ever want to practice your English or talk about camping and hiking, you can email me. And is it okay if I message you for this stuff too?" To which he replied, "Yes. I will and you can. Alright then, thank you very much Theresa." And then he stood outside to wait for me to leave before going back into his apartment. *sigh* I could`ve done better. But, ah well, friendship. Friendship.
March 31 Wednesday
No classes again today, so donned on my jeans and went to the middle school. At 10am, though, I went to the elementary to help with desk moving. So, a little about the Japanese school system here. Every new school year, the teachers change the grade levels they teach. And they`re allowed to be the homeroom teacher for each ascending grade for 2 years. After that they have to be assigned to another class. So my 5th grade teacher last year, is now the 6th grade teacher. The 6th grade teacher last year is now the 5th grade teacher, the 4th grade teacher is still the 4th grade teacher, the 3rd grade teacher is someone new to the school, the 2nd grade teacher was the helping teacher last year, and the 1st grade teacher was the 3rd grade teacher last year. Along with changing grades, the desks in the faculty office change places as well. I used to sit in the middle, but now the moved me to the back corner with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. The 1st-4 grade teachers sit in the middle of the room while the nurse, nutritionist, and the OLs and OMs sit on the other side of the room. It`s not so bad becaue I can see everyone in the room and I face the door, so I can see my kids walking in and out. But yeah....I don`t really get this system.
Actually, I realized that my seat is next to where Mr. Wonderful used to sit. And it gave me a little pang in my heart. If Mr. Wonderful was still here, I`d be sitting next to him. But he`s not anymore...so it`s a little sad. But I was able to see him one last time when I went to his apartment with the other teachers to help him move out. And his apt was how I imagined how a single man`s apt would be like. lol It was kinda dirty lol, and he likes to cook, but doesn`t really clean well, and his bathroom was just terrible...lol Well, we all helped him to move out his stuff and everything and clean his apt. I was impressed with the amount of things he had and what he had. He had a snowboard and ski set, a keyboard, weights for lifting, and a bunch of other cool things. Of course, he`s an ex-bartender. That explains his coolness. haha. @.@
Anyways, as I was helping the other teachers clean stuff, I went into one of his storage rooms which, apparently, also doubles as his closet of sorts. And his clothes were awesome! They were very oshare, but in a mature way. It was all very sexy mature clothes. I was quite enamored by the clothes just hanging there, that I imagine I`d be even more awed when they`re worn. lol I`m a little off my rocker these days.
So after all that, I went back to the middle school to get things settled, but totally forgot to say goodbye to him. I slapped myself later about that and decided to go back to the elementary after work to say goodbye to all the leaving teachers. At 4pm I went back to the elementary to say goodbye to Winnie-the-pooh sensei (my fav) and ran into Mr. Wonderful as I was coming out of the bathroom. Good timing. But all I could say to him was "Thank you for everything. I enjoyed our talks in English. They were fun. If you want to practie more English, just message me. Goodbye!" And then I left school. I didn`t give him any more than that becauese 1)just friends policy at the moment and 2) I forgot what I wanted to say to him.... Ah well, I hopefully will be able to see him again, one day. Until then, I will hold on to hope and go on with life with no regrets.
April 2nd Friday
Today I introduced myself to all the new incoming teachers. It was an assembly at the BOE and all the new teachers and principals/vice principal introduced themselves. The BOE people introduced ourselves also. Everyone did it in Japanese, obviously, so I did mine in English. haha. All the new teachers were confused, and the BOE people said I was pretty cool. =P Not a single hot teacher was there though. sad face.
In the evening was the welcome party for the elementary school. I was lucky enough to sit next Ayumi, the new helper teacher that replaced Yuki. I miss Yuki very much. She`s leaving the next day for a town 3 hours away from here. School just wont be the same without her. My kindred spirit. But Ayumi is the same age as I am and very sweet and easy to talk to. She doesn`t have the same humor as Yuki, but cute nonetheless...However, she`s married. 22 and she`s married...geez...I was like, wow. That`s young. haha. But I liked talking to her and we have the same interests. So I look forward to becoming better friends with her.
Our enkai was delicious and quite fun. I`ve been able to talk a lot to the teachers recently, so it`s a good thing. The new principal`s pretty funny. A little perverted, but funny. He was born on leap year, so even though he`s quite old looking, he`s actually only 14 because of the leap year thing. My first time meeting someone with a birthday on leap year. It`s an interesting phenomonen.
After that, we went to the second party. That was fun too. Drank lots, sang lots, and conversed enough. We then all went home at around 11pm or so. It was a good and tiring evening. And I have to prepare for heading off to Muroran the next day...
Otsukare for reading!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
I believe my liver is going to kill me.
March 20 Saturday
Yay 3 day weekend! I’m excited! Time to hang with people! Today I spent my morning cleaning up my apartment for my friends who are coming to chill at my place on Sunday. At around 3pm I left to go to Asahikawa to meet up at Alan’s where Steph and Erika were also chillin. The girls decided to come up to visit Alan in Asahikawa for today and then tomorrow move over to my place to spend the night. I drove over there to discover that they weren’t home and was actually at the local supermarket. So I headed on over there with my car. I was containing my excitement at being able to see them. Living out here in the countryside it’s really difficult to see people, so any chance I get I become really excited. I just had to look for the tall foreigners wandering around the store and finally found them passing an aisle. I ran over to them like a happy puppy. Alan says that the image of me running down the aisle like that was pretty funny. I couldn’t help it, I was happy and excited. Haha. Apparently they were shopping for the next days’ breakfast…though I don’t know if we’ll be able to actually wake up early enough for it, seeing how I’m pretty sure tonight is clubbing and drinking. Lol
At around 7pm we headed over to catch the bus to Asahikawa station to meet up with Alan’s Japanese teacher and her friends. They were going to take us to eat at an izakaya. Their English was amazingly good. They could speak it quite well actually. We spent quite a while walking, trying to find izakayas that would accept 7 people or had room for us. We had no reservations so it was pretty difficult. But, finally, we found a place that was able to take all of us in, providing we were able to finish eating before 10pm because there was another reservation in place. We ordered a nomihoudai, or all you can drink and loads and loads of food. We talked for a serious long time and ended up going past 10pm, but the waiters didn’t come in to shoo us out. So, there must have been an extra room available for them.
After that we all went to “The Den” which is the international bar in Asahikawa. There were a lot of other foreigners that night because it was St. Patty’s weekend. So there were many people there drinking and stuff. But my friends and I were just content with talking and being with each other. There were some strange guys there too, so we basically ignored a lot of them. Eheh. From there we went to “Monarch” which is the new club located in the basement of a building. I guess I’m already pretty used to going underground for clubs as shady as that sounds. =P The club was small, but it had a dance floor and a bar. It was pretty classily decked out, but the music played was definitely not good for dancing. Not hip hop at all. So it was a lil difficult to dance to. The DJ wasn’t that amazing either. When the DJ can leave the dance floor and leave his gear unattended, you know that the club’s not exactly up to par…lol We met some other foreigners there too, some who were pretty cute. But there was one particular guy we all found interesting to talk to. He worked in some kind of bank accounting thing in Tokyo area and has been working there for 13 years, yet doesn’t speak a word of Japanese and has no interest in Japan. Why would you stay working in a country for so long and not speak a word of the language or dislike being here? If it were me, I would have moved ages ago. But, I guess he’s making bank, because he seems to be having the good life as much as he doesn’t care for it here. At around 4:30am we left for Alan’s. At Alan’s before we went to sleep, we stayed up for another 15 minutes still talking…and then fell silent as we all drifted off to sleep at around 5am.
March 21 Sunday
Well, needless to say, we were tired, and didn’t wake up until the afternoon around 12pm. Lol Collin was already on his way down from his village, but we were still in the middle of getting up/getting ready. Since I didn’t have futons and many blankets at my apt, I asked to borrow Alan’s and load them in my car. Okay, so my car is very small. Not meant for a shit load of people or things. So when we crammed all those futons into the back, my car was ready to explode. Pile in 3 more tall foreigners and my car was gonna fall over. When I started to move the car, I thought it weird that it felt so heavy. I knew that everyone and all the futons and thick blankets in it weighed it down a little, but not that much. 10 minutes into the road, my car was shaking bad. We weren’t exactly sure what was going on. So we stopped at the local Lawson’s (conbini) and checked what was going on. My back left tire was flat. Actually, it was completely depleted of air. So that was why my car was shaking so violently. I went into the Lawson’s to ask one of the employees where the nearest gas station was because my tire had gone flat. And he was sweet enough to come out to take a look at it and change it for us…even though Erika was totally ready to do it. Awesome man.
However, in order for us to get the spare tire out of the trunk we had to unload all the futons crammed in the back, but it just burst out our doors as soon as we opened them….lol It was quite a funny sight to see though, I have to say. So it was basically us 4 foreigners stuck at Lawson’s with a flat tire. I’m sure the old man must have thought it funny. And it would be a good story for him. Haha. So with our spare tire tacked on, we went on our way to my place. We arrived there at the same time as Collin. We unpacked the spilling futons and dumped them in my little apt, which it just took up all the floor space. Lol We then went out to eat at the “Hillside Box” restaurant in Shibetsu. Since there were 5 of us big foreigners…well, I’m kinda tiny… so they gave us the large relaxation room with sofas to sit on and a huge window to view out of. We spent a good 3 hours just sitting in the room doing nothing but fun talking until the lady came into the room to tell us that there was a limit to how long we can stay in this room. So at that sign, we decided to leave and go sing Karaoke. Collin was awesome enough to drive us all so he wasn’t able to drink with us at the karaoke bar. Sorry! >.< Next time, for sure, yo!
We then came back from Karaoke to go to Yamamoto-tei in my town, but it was already closed. So we decided to head on back to Shibetsu and went to a ramen shop to eat. Lol We were all pretty tired by the end of it so we just returned home. Although we did not sleep until 4am since we just stayed up late talking. The next morning…at around 11am Collin went back to Sarufutsu and the rest of us decided to cook a very late breakfast. We didn’t eat until 2pm…lol After that, I drove everyone back to their houses on a super slippery/icy road, but was able to make it back in one piece on my spare tire. Haha.
March 23 Tuesday
Today was my Taiko performance debut! And it was at the elderly care center. Lol So, there were a lot of old people there that weren’t really aware of what was going on. But they were cute! I performed with no mistakes, but then again I wasn’t really nervous because I had gotten used to being on stage or in front of a lot of people, thanks to Tomo Modern and teaching. Everything went well and afterwards all the kids and their parents and I went to go have a little celebration party. Lotsa good food and a wonderful time spent with my children. I love them wholeheartedly and am sad that many of them are quiting after this to focus on studies in middle school and club activities…like baseball…Everyone in this town does baseball, dude, why not be different and do something else? Ah well, at least I still get to see them in school.
March 24th Wednesday
Today was the end of the year closing ceremony for all my schools, except my nursery. All the teachers who were leaving to change to go to a different school all said their goodbyes on the stage to all the students. It was a little tearful, but I still see them for another week or so before they actually move away. After the middle school’s farewell ceremony I went to the elementary to have lunch, bought by my principle for all the teachers. It was huge and delicious.
In the evening was the farewell party/soubetsukai for the middle school held in Shibetsu. The food we had was wonderfully delicious, but so fatty because it was drenched in butter. It’s butter yaki or so they call it. You spread a block of butter on the hot plate and then cook meat and veggies on it. I didn’t drink at all at the 1st party because there was nothing besides beer…and I’m kinda on a diet so I didn’t want to drink just beer. But at the second party which was at a lounge/bar there was all you can drink alcohol! YES! And it had shots! WHOO! I asked the teachers around me if it was okay to order a shot and they were like “er….sure…?” They weren’t used to drinking shots and were surprised to hear me say it. When one of them asked the bartender for a shot of tequila for me, the bartender just stared at him incredulously and was like “A SHOT?! OF TEQUILA!? REALLY?” And I saw the teacher point to me and said that it was for me…and that was what surprised the bartender even more. Haha. Well, when I got the shot, even I was shocked. It was basically a double shot of tequila! The glass was the size of a whiskey glass. Like, dude, this was a shot, one shot, of tequila!???!! Well, I didn’t question it too much and just gulped the whole thing down. I didn’t bother to stop after drinking half of it, I just downed it all….Yeah, I’m crazy. After I set the glass back on the table, all the teachers just looked at me and was like “Wow, we just lost.” Lol Waha, American drinking style right there! And then I had a lot more alcoholic drinks after that. Mainly strong drinks made specially by the bartender for me. Heh =P
March 26th Friday
Tonight was the farewell party for the elementary school. It was in Asahikawa, at the Asahikawa Grand Hotel. The most expensive and luxurious hotel in all of the city. And that is why the entire night, plus the hotel room, cost me around $200…..>.< Geez. For one party, I forked over that much money. But I think I’m getting used to tossing my money around for all these parties Japanese people like to have and order expensive foods and all. *sigh* It’s just part of the life here. Well, this was a formal party that everyone had to dress up nicely for and I decided to wear my tube top dress with black leggings and my silver heels. Because the top was too revealing, I wore my faux fur coat over it the entire time…lol When I walked into the room, all the female teachers were like “AH! Kawaii!!” hehe. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Mr. Wonderful look over at me. He himself was looking pretty fly in his suit as well.
Sadly, our seats were at different tables, so we didn’t sit next to each other. We had some bomb foods. Like they were seriously high class and you can tell it was expensive. The dinner alone cost everyone $70.00. Then all the leaving teachers came up one by one to be presented with flowers and thank you notes. Apparently, from what I heard later because I seem to have not been paying real attention, Mr. Wonderful made a shocking announcement that changed my feelings about him. That day marked the anniversary of his breakup with his girlfriend of 3 years…Yeah. He announced it basically. So, obviously, he’s still carrying some baggage about it. There’s no way that he went out with her for 3 years and didn’t still think about or have feelings for her now. Not by the way he announced it at least. I mean, he didn’t look dejected or sound like it at all…but still, there’s a reason why he would announce something like that. I don’t know. All I know is that the whole announcement thing really settled the fact that I just want to be friends with him for now. I don’t want to date a guy who’s still got this problem of an old flame. I don’t want to be a rebound girl. I thought that most people, after a year, would be over it by now, but I guess it depends on the person. So I’m not gonna go after him. I’ll wait until he’s more available mentally. So, friends it is.
After the 1st party, we had a second party with all you can drink alcohol for 120 minutes up on the 17th floor where the hotel’s bar was. We had a private room reserved for us complete with a beautiful large window to view the nightscape. Breathtaking. Yeah, my elementary teachers know how to live it up. *.* As we came in, Mr. Wonderful looked a little sheepish and laughed a little bit. One of the teachers was then like, “Oh yeah! That’s right! You used to work here right?” And he said, “Yeah, I used to be a bartender here.” O.O OMG! THAT IS SO HOT! A BARTENDER! Hello! And the thing is, I can totally see him doing it too. >D I sat between Yuki and a leaving teacher and in front of me was the vice principal. He called over Mr. Wonderful to come sit next to him. So Mr. Wonderful sat diagonal from me. I took that chance to talk to him as much as I could. I just kept saying his name before I asked him questions and stuff. And plus I had a shit load of alcohol to drink, so my confidence was building up and my courage was overflowing. Words just seemed to come out of my mouth asking the randomest questions.
All the teachers there were fairly tipsy, if not drunk. So we had a grand ol’ time laughing it up and being all cooky. And because Mr. Wonderful used to work there and the bartenders knew him, they brought over complementary fruit plates for all of us! Awesome! After the 2nd party, we all went out to a local bar for more all you can drink alcohol. By that time, I was pretty relaxed because I had so much alcohol. But when we walked into the bar, I got excited and was like, omg, I’m ordering shots! No shots, no party. And it was a bar dude! You had to drink a shot at the bar! We got our own little room to sit in and, unfortunately, Mr. Wonderful sat 2 people down to the left of me. But that did not hinder me talking to him. I would look over and chat him up still. Haha. And then my tequila shot came and I downed it. One of the teachers asked me if I was feeling okay and if something bad happened to me recently. I was like “No. These are shots of happiness! I love shots! This is how Americans drink most of the time at parties. We tip our heads back and down the shot.” So he was like, “Alright, Theresa, order me one too!” I stared at him and was like are you sure you want one? Because in Japan, people don’t usually do shots and it’s not exactly normal at parties. So they were all surprised to see me chug it down. Lol Well, I ordered him one more, and me one as well. We cheered and downed it. The principal had a drop of it before we downed it and was like, “My throat feels really warm right now…actually kind of burning.” Lol Yes, that’s what tequila does to you. And it’s one of the strongest alcohols. So, yeah, of course we ordered another pair.
Mr. Wonderful then asked me if you usually always lick the salt first, then drink the tequila, and then eat the lemon. I was like “Well, yeah. I don’t know of any other way to drink tequila.” And he said, “Well, I have a friend that sniffs the salt, drinks the tequila, and squeezes the lemon in her eye.” And I just stared at him and said “That. Hurts. It’s not normal.” At the same time I thought ‘you must be drunk or that girl was high.’ Because that’s not normal…at all…no matter how crazy a party….you have to be on ecstasy or something to get up the courage to do that. When the principal asked him if that wouldn’t hurt, he answered that it hurt the girl’s nose when she sniffed the salt. And I was like, ‘and the lemon didn’t when it was squeezed into her eyes?’ Seriously, what kind of person do you have to be to like that kind of excruciating pain!!?? Salt and lemon, yo! Salt and lemon! In yo nose and eye! WHA?! This is going to stay in my memory forever dude. I’m not going to be able to forget this….lol
Before we left, there was still one more shot of tequila left to drink, so I was like “5th grade teacher! The tequila! Drink up!” And he had this resigned look on his face, “Oh Theresa. You`re riding in my car tomorrow, right? (Implying that is it safe for him to drive tomorrow after so much alcohol?)” “Yes, I am. So drink!” lol I was chocked full of liquor and I wasn`t too conscious about what I was talking about anymore. Much like Mr. Wonderful and that tequila story…lol eheh.
For the fourth and final party we went to sing karaoke. When Exile`s song, "Choo Choo Train", came up all the young male teachers stood up to dance to it. It was awesome. Yes, it reminded me that the male teachers are still really young (at heart as well) and still boys, and pretty cool hip for teachers. But then again, this is Japan, where the teachers are pretty oshare and don`t act like teachers when not in the classroom. They reminded me of college friends. heh. =P Again, we had all you can drink alcohol/nomihoudai and by that time, I was feeling pretty loose and very little control over myself. So, I was ordering alcohol left and right. I would yell it over the table to the waitress since I was sitting in the very back of the room. Oh, and because I had so much alcohol from the beginning, I also began constantly pouring alcohol for the other teachers and calling for more alcohol and other drinks for the other teachers. ~~;
Mr. Wonderful and I sang a duet together. Well, I sang, he rapped. It was to Aoyama Thelma`s "Soba ni iru ne". He`s so damn good at rapping! Anyways, afterwards we all parted ways to head back to the hotel at 4am. I was wearing my silver anklestrapped heels not made for walking in the snow. So I was basically skipping and hopping around because I kept getting snow inside my heels, very f-in cold. I was hopping around saying "OMG, cold! Cold! Cold! Snow in heels! Cold!" The other teachers were all laughing and Mr. Wonderful chuckled.
Finally when we went back to our rooms, he was on the same floor as I was so I took that chance to ask him for his cell phone info. I told him "I want to send you text mails, but I can`t" He just kind of gave a chuckle of sorts and sagged his shoulders. I wasn`t sure what that was, but we were able to exchange info. So I wasn`t going to get too caught up in analyzing that action he did. We then said goodnight to each other and went back to our rooms. I took a bath and chilled until around 4:30am and fell asleep to wake up at 7:30am....Yeah....
March 27th Saturday
Woke up at an awful early time after sleeping so late last night and then went to eat some McDonald`s with Yuki. We discussed all the stuff that happened last night. I asked her if I sounded strange or out of the ordinary when talking with the teachers last night because I had so much alcohol. And I remember myself constantly calling Mr. Wonderful`s name and talking to him. She was like, "Yeah, you really talked to him alot! Like constantly, but it didn`t sound bad! You sounded very natural when you were talking. It was actually a very good feeling between you two." YES! Good, but I doubt he remembers anything because he was drunk...lol
Oh, and a bit of info I forgot to put in for something that also happened yesterday: At the third party in the bar, sitting next to Mr. Wonderful was one of the leaving teachers who read fortunes and stuff. So she was explaining to me my fortune. She said that right now is not a good time for me to get into relationships and stuff. And not many things will be going too great for me, but come July things will get better. Hopefully. That`s when my family might be coming and when I will be able to go camping, possibly, with Mr. Wonderful. I`ll wait until that time to see if anything happens. The teacher also said that I`m a really easy person to date. I`m thinkng that means I can date and get along with just about anybody. Well, that`s good to know. Eheh. Alright guys, maybe something awesome will happen in July. Waiting on it.
Otsukare guys! I know this was a long post, but there`s been so many things happening that I wasn`t able to create the time to write in my blog. But thanks for reading nonetheless and sorry for the late delay.
Yay 3 day weekend! I’m excited! Time to hang with people! Today I spent my morning cleaning up my apartment for my friends who are coming to chill at my place on Sunday. At around 3pm I left to go to Asahikawa to meet up at Alan’s where Steph and Erika were also chillin. The girls decided to come up to visit Alan in Asahikawa for today and then tomorrow move over to my place to spend the night. I drove over there to discover that they weren’t home and was actually at the local supermarket. So I headed on over there with my car. I was containing my excitement at being able to see them. Living out here in the countryside it’s really difficult to see people, so any chance I get I become really excited. I just had to look for the tall foreigners wandering around the store and finally found them passing an aisle. I ran over to them like a happy puppy. Alan says that the image of me running down the aisle like that was pretty funny. I couldn’t help it, I was happy and excited. Haha. Apparently they were shopping for the next days’ breakfast…though I don’t know if we’ll be able to actually wake up early enough for it, seeing how I’m pretty sure tonight is clubbing and drinking. Lol
At around 7pm we headed over to catch the bus to Asahikawa station to meet up with Alan’s Japanese teacher and her friends. They were going to take us to eat at an izakaya. Their English was amazingly good. They could speak it quite well actually. We spent quite a while walking, trying to find izakayas that would accept 7 people or had room for us. We had no reservations so it was pretty difficult. But, finally, we found a place that was able to take all of us in, providing we were able to finish eating before 10pm because there was another reservation in place. We ordered a nomihoudai, or all you can drink and loads and loads of food. We talked for a serious long time and ended up going past 10pm, but the waiters didn’t come in to shoo us out. So, there must have been an extra room available for them.
After that we all went to “The Den” which is the international bar in Asahikawa. There were a lot of other foreigners that night because it was St. Patty’s weekend. So there were many people there drinking and stuff. But my friends and I were just content with talking and being with each other. There were some strange guys there too, so we basically ignored a lot of them. Eheh. From there we went to “Monarch” which is the new club located in the basement of a building. I guess I’m already pretty used to going underground for clubs as shady as that sounds. =P The club was small, but it had a dance floor and a bar. It was pretty classily decked out, but the music played was definitely not good for dancing. Not hip hop at all. So it was a lil difficult to dance to. The DJ wasn’t that amazing either. When the DJ can leave the dance floor and leave his gear unattended, you know that the club’s not exactly up to par…lol We met some other foreigners there too, some who were pretty cute. But there was one particular guy we all found interesting to talk to. He worked in some kind of bank accounting thing in Tokyo area and has been working there for 13 years, yet doesn’t speak a word of Japanese and has no interest in Japan. Why would you stay working in a country for so long and not speak a word of the language or dislike being here? If it were me, I would have moved ages ago. But, I guess he’s making bank, because he seems to be having the good life as much as he doesn’t care for it here. At around 4:30am we left for Alan’s. At Alan’s before we went to sleep, we stayed up for another 15 minutes still talking…and then fell silent as we all drifted off to sleep at around 5am.
March 21 Sunday
Well, needless to say, we were tired, and didn’t wake up until the afternoon around 12pm. Lol Collin was already on his way down from his village, but we were still in the middle of getting up/getting ready. Since I didn’t have futons and many blankets at my apt, I asked to borrow Alan’s and load them in my car. Okay, so my car is very small. Not meant for a shit load of people or things. So when we crammed all those futons into the back, my car was ready to explode. Pile in 3 more tall foreigners and my car was gonna fall over. When I started to move the car, I thought it weird that it felt so heavy. I knew that everyone and all the futons and thick blankets in it weighed it down a little, but not that much. 10 minutes into the road, my car was shaking bad. We weren’t exactly sure what was going on. So we stopped at the local Lawson’s (conbini) and checked what was going on. My back left tire was flat. Actually, it was completely depleted of air. So that was why my car was shaking so violently. I went into the Lawson’s to ask one of the employees where the nearest gas station was because my tire had gone flat. And he was sweet enough to come out to take a look at it and change it for us…even though Erika was totally ready to do it. Awesome man.
However, in order for us to get the spare tire out of the trunk we had to unload all the futons crammed in the back, but it just burst out our doors as soon as we opened them….lol It was quite a funny sight to see though, I have to say. So it was basically us 4 foreigners stuck at Lawson’s with a flat tire. I’m sure the old man must have thought it funny. And it would be a good story for him. Haha. So with our spare tire tacked on, we went on our way to my place. We arrived there at the same time as Collin. We unpacked the spilling futons and dumped them in my little apt, which it just took up all the floor space. Lol We then went out to eat at the “Hillside Box” restaurant in Shibetsu. Since there were 5 of us big foreigners…well, I’m kinda tiny… so they gave us the large relaxation room with sofas to sit on and a huge window to view out of. We spent a good 3 hours just sitting in the room doing nothing but fun talking until the lady came into the room to tell us that there was a limit to how long we can stay in this room. So at that sign, we decided to leave and go sing Karaoke. Collin was awesome enough to drive us all so he wasn’t able to drink with us at the karaoke bar. Sorry! >.< Next time, for sure, yo!
We then came back from Karaoke to go to Yamamoto-tei in my town, but it was already closed. So we decided to head on back to Shibetsu and went to a ramen shop to eat. Lol We were all pretty tired by the end of it so we just returned home. Although we did not sleep until 4am since we just stayed up late talking. The next morning…at around 11am Collin went back to Sarufutsu and the rest of us decided to cook a very late breakfast. We didn’t eat until 2pm…lol After that, I drove everyone back to their houses on a super slippery/icy road, but was able to make it back in one piece on my spare tire. Haha.
March 23 Tuesday
Today was my Taiko performance debut! And it was at the elderly care center. Lol So, there were a lot of old people there that weren’t really aware of what was going on. But they were cute! I performed with no mistakes, but then again I wasn’t really nervous because I had gotten used to being on stage or in front of a lot of people, thanks to Tomo Modern and teaching. Everything went well and afterwards all the kids and their parents and I went to go have a little celebration party. Lotsa good food and a wonderful time spent with my children. I love them wholeheartedly and am sad that many of them are quiting after this to focus on studies in middle school and club activities…like baseball…Everyone in this town does baseball, dude, why not be different and do something else? Ah well, at least I still get to see them in school.
March 24th Wednesday
Today was the end of the year closing ceremony for all my schools, except my nursery. All the teachers who were leaving to change to go to a different school all said their goodbyes on the stage to all the students. It was a little tearful, but I still see them for another week or so before they actually move away. After the middle school’s farewell ceremony I went to the elementary to have lunch, bought by my principle for all the teachers. It was huge and delicious.
In the evening was the farewell party/soubetsukai for the middle school held in Shibetsu. The food we had was wonderfully delicious, but so fatty because it was drenched in butter. It’s butter yaki or so they call it. You spread a block of butter on the hot plate and then cook meat and veggies on it. I didn’t drink at all at the 1st party because there was nothing besides beer…and I’m kinda on a diet so I didn’t want to drink just beer. But at the second party which was at a lounge/bar there was all you can drink alcohol! YES! And it had shots! WHOO! I asked the teachers around me if it was okay to order a shot and they were like “er….sure…?” They weren’t used to drinking shots and were surprised to hear me say it. When one of them asked the bartender for a shot of tequila for me, the bartender just stared at him incredulously and was like “A SHOT?! OF TEQUILA!? REALLY?” And I saw the teacher point to me and said that it was for me…and that was what surprised the bartender even more. Haha. Well, when I got the shot, even I was shocked. It was basically a double shot of tequila! The glass was the size of a whiskey glass. Like, dude, this was a shot, one shot, of tequila!???!! Well, I didn’t question it too much and just gulped the whole thing down. I didn’t bother to stop after drinking half of it, I just downed it all….Yeah, I’m crazy. After I set the glass back on the table, all the teachers just looked at me and was like “Wow, we just lost.” Lol Waha, American drinking style right there! And then I had a lot more alcoholic drinks after that. Mainly strong drinks made specially by the bartender for me. Heh =P
March 26th Friday
Tonight was the farewell party for the elementary school. It was in Asahikawa, at the Asahikawa Grand Hotel. The most expensive and luxurious hotel in all of the city. And that is why the entire night, plus the hotel room, cost me around $200…..>.< Geez. For one party, I forked over that much money. But I think I’m getting used to tossing my money around for all these parties Japanese people like to have and order expensive foods and all. *sigh* It’s just part of the life here. Well, this was a formal party that everyone had to dress up nicely for and I decided to wear my tube top dress with black leggings and my silver heels. Because the top was too revealing, I wore my faux fur coat over it the entire time…lol When I walked into the room, all the female teachers were like “AH! Kawaii!!” hehe. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Mr. Wonderful look over at me. He himself was looking pretty fly in his suit as well.
Sadly, our seats were at different tables, so we didn’t sit next to each other. We had some bomb foods. Like they were seriously high class and you can tell it was expensive. The dinner alone cost everyone $70.00. Then all the leaving teachers came up one by one to be presented with flowers and thank you notes. Apparently, from what I heard later because I seem to have not been paying real attention, Mr. Wonderful made a shocking announcement that changed my feelings about him. That day marked the anniversary of his breakup with his girlfriend of 3 years…Yeah. He announced it basically. So, obviously, he’s still carrying some baggage about it. There’s no way that he went out with her for 3 years and didn’t still think about or have feelings for her now. Not by the way he announced it at least. I mean, he didn’t look dejected or sound like it at all…but still, there’s a reason why he would announce something like that. I don’t know. All I know is that the whole announcement thing really settled the fact that I just want to be friends with him for now. I don’t want to date a guy who’s still got this problem of an old flame. I don’t want to be a rebound girl. I thought that most people, after a year, would be over it by now, but I guess it depends on the person. So I’m not gonna go after him. I’ll wait until he’s more available mentally. So, friends it is.
After the 1st party, we had a second party with all you can drink alcohol for 120 minutes up on the 17th floor where the hotel’s bar was. We had a private room reserved for us complete with a beautiful large window to view the nightscape. Breathtaking. Yeah, my elementary teachers know how to live it up. *.* As we came in, Mr. Wonderful looked a little sheepish and laughed a little bit. One of the teachers was then like, “Oh yeah! That’s right! You used to work here right?” And he said, “Yeah, I used to be a bartender here.” O.O OMG! THAT IS SO HOT! A BARTENDER! Hello! And the thing is, I can totally see him doing it too. >D I sat between Yuki and a leaving teacher and in front of me was the vice principal. He called over Mr. Wonderful to come sit next to him. So Mr. Wonderful sat diagonal from me. I took that chance to talk to him as much as I could. I just kept saying his name before I asked him questions and stuff. And plus I had a shit load of alcohol to drink, so my confidence was building up and my courage was overflowing. Words just seemed to come out of my mouth asking the randomest questions.
All the teachers there were fairly tipsy, if not drunk. So we had a grand ol’ time laughing it up and being all cooky. And because Mr. Wonderful used to work there and the bartenders knew him, they brought over complementary fruit plates for all of us! Awesome! After the 2nd party, we all went out to a local bar for more all you can drink alcohol. By that time, I was pretty relaxed because I had so much alcohol. But when we walked into the bar, I got excited and was like, omg, I’m ordering shots! No shots, no party. And it was a bar dude! You had to drink a shot at the bar! We got our own little room to sit in and, unfortunately, Mr. Wonderful sat 2 people down to the left of me. But that did not hinder me talking to him. I would look over and chat him up still. Haha. And then my tequila shot came and I downed it. One of the teachers asked me if I was feeling okay and if something bad happened to me recently. I was like “No. These are shots of happiness! I love shots! This is how Americans drink most of the time at parties. We tip our heads back and down the shot.” So he was like, “Alright, Theresa, order me one too!” I stared at him and was like are you sure you want one? Because in Japan, people don’t usually do shots and it’s not exactly normal at parties. So they were all surprised to see me chug it down. Lol Well, I ordered him one more, and me one as well. We cheered and downed it. The principal had a drop of it before we downed it and was like, “My throat feels really warm right now…actually kind of burning.” Lol Yes, that’s what tequila does to you. And it’s one of the strongest alcohols. So, yeah, of course we ordered another pair.
Mr. Wonderful then asked me if you usually always lick the salt first, then drink the tequila, and then eat the lemon. I was like “Well, yeah. I don’t know of any other way to drink tequila.” And he said, “Well, I have a friend that sniffs the salt, drinks the tequila, and squeezes the lemon in her eye.” And I just stared at him and said “That. Hurts. It’s not normal.” At the same time I thought ‘you must be drunk or that girl was high.’ Because that’s not normal…at all…no matter how crazy a party….you have to be on ecstasy or something to get up the courage to do that. When the principal asked him if that wouldn’t hurt, he answered that it hurt the girl’s nose when she sniffed the salt. And I was like, ‘and the lemon didn’t when it was squeezed into her eyes?’ Seriously, what kind of person do you have to be to like that kind of excruciating pain!!?? Salt and lemon, yo! Salt and lemon! In yo nose and eye! WHA?! This is going to stay in my memory forever dude. I’m not going to be able to forget this….lol
Before we left, there was still one more shot of tequila left to drink, so I was like “5th grade teacher! The tequila! Drink up!” And he had this resigned look on his face, “Oh Theresa. You`re riding in my car tomorrow, right? (Implying that is it safe for him to drive tomorrow after so much alcohol?)” “Yes, I am. So drink!” lol I was chocked full of liquor and I wasn`t too conscious about what I was talking about anymore. Much like Mr. Wonderful and that tequila story…lol eheh.
For the fourth and final party we went to sing karaoke. When Exile`s song, "Choo Choo Train", came up all the young male teachers stood up to dance to it. It was awesome. Yes, it reminded me that the male teachers are still really young (at heart as well) and still boys, and pretty cool hip for teachers. But then again, this is Japan, where the teachers are pretty oshare and don`t act like teachers when not in the classroom. They reminded me of college friends. heh. =P Again, we had all you can drink alcohol/nomihoudai and by that time, I was feeling pretty loose and very little control over myself. So, I was ordering alcohol left and right. I would yell it over the table to the waitress since I was sitting in the very back of the room. Oh, and because I had so much alcohol from the beginning, I also began constantly pouring alcohol for the other teachers and calling for more alcohol and other drinks for the other teachers. ~~;
Mr. Wonderful and I sang a duet together. Well, I sang, he rapped. It was to Aoyama Thelma`s "Soba ni iru ne". He`s so damn good at rapping! Anyways, afterwards we all parted ways to head back to the hotel at 4am. I was wearing my silver anklestrapped heels not made for walking in the snow. So I was basically skipping and hopping around because I kept getting snow inside my heels, very f-in cold. I was hopping around saying "OMG, cold! Cold! Cold! Snow in heels! Cold!" The other teachers were all laughing and Mr. Wonderful chuckled.
Finally when we went back to our rooms, he was on the same floor as I was so I took that chance to ask him for his cell phone info. I told him "I want to send you text mails, but I can`t" He just kind of gave a chuckle of sorts and sagged his shoulders. I wasn`t sure what that was, but we were able to exchange info. So I wasn`t going to get too caught up in analyzing that action he did. We then said goodnight to each other and went back to our rooms. I took a bath and chilled until around 4:30am and fell asleep to wake up at 7:30am....Yeah....
March 27th Saturday
Woke up at an awful early time after sleeping so late last night and then went to eat some McDonald`s with Yuki. We discussed all the stuff that happened last night. I asked her if I sounded strange or out of the ordinary when talking with the teachers last night because I had so much alcohol. And I remember myself constantly calling Mr. Wonderful`s name and talking to him. She was like, "Yeah, you really talked to him alot! Like constantly, but it didn`t sound bad! You sounded very natural when you were talking. It was actually a very good feeling between you two." YES! Good, but I doubt he remembers anything because he was drunk...lol
Oh, and a bit of info I forgot to put in for something that also happened yesterday: At the third party in the bar, sitting next to Mr. Wonderful was one of the leaving teachers who read fortunes and stuff. So she was explaining to me my fortune. She said that right now is not a good time for me to get into relationships and stuff. And not many things will be going too great for me, but come July things will get better. Hopefully. That`s when my family might be coming and when I will be able to go camping, possibly, with Mr. Wonderful. I`ll wait until that time to see if anything happens. The teacher also said that I`m a really easy person to date. I`m thinkng that means I can date and get along with just about anybody. Well, that`s good to know. Eheh. Alright guys, maybe something awesome will happen in July. Waiting on it.
Otsukare guys! I know this was a long post, but there`s been so many things happening that I wasn`t able to create the time to write in my blog. But thanks for reading nonetheless and sorry for the late delay.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
I`m Quite Elated. ~_~
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!
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!
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