Partying It Up

Today is a cold and rainy day. Last week it was pretty nice, so the school put all their kerosene heaters away. However, this week it's been chilly and what makes it worse is that there are no heaterｓ. Geez!!!


Last night、 it was the school's farewell party for the teachers who are being transferred out. The hall that was rented out in the hotel nearby, the same one that was used for the end of the year party, had round tables. However, the guests of honor, which were the people that are leaving, were at a long table in the side of the room.

The party started at 6:30. When we got there, we picked letters randomly from a box, which told us where to sit. I did this 3 times because they wanted me to have at least one other English speaker at my table. I was greatful for that. Then, we go to our seats. The party officially starts with a toast. We all get our glasses and say "Kanpai" (Cheers!!!).

Here is a rule to follow. We always pour the drink for the person next to us. This means that once the drinks hit the table, you do not pour the drink for yourself. Instead, you pour the drink for the person next to you and they will pour the drink for you.

Throughout the evening, everyone would go to the guests of honor and pour drinks into their cups, say some words of encouragement and good wishes and move on to the next person. Usually, people would say "Gambatte Kudasai" (Please do your best) and a little bit of small talk, depending on how close they were to that person. The guests of honor, would take sips of their drink every time somone would come up, which was constantly, in order for there to be space to pour more drinks. My vice principal, who is also leaving, had a hidden bucket next to him, so that he could pour out his drink every once in awhile. It would allow us to fill up his cup. lol.

There were also speechs by everyone who was leaving.

In the end, everyone got in a circle, put their arms around each other and sang the school song. Then, we do Bonzai before going home. I guess this is how they end all enkais (drinking parties) because the other big enkai I went to ended the same way.
It's a little bit surreal when we get into the circle because at school, I'm usually in my own little bubble and don't really realize anything around me. However, when we get into a circle, that's when I realize "Wow I'm the only foreigner here. Everyone else here is Japanese." lol. It's such a stupid thing to think because it's so obvious, but I usually forget about how different my surroundings our now compared to my life prior to coming here.

Anyway, before leaving, everyone got into two lines and lifted their arms, so that the guests of honor could walk under them. The men were at the end by the door because they would throw up the guys who were leaving 3 times in the air. Kim said that her school also throws up the girls, but mine only lifts the guys. However, the last person walking out of the door was a female Japanese teacher. The male gym teacher was really drunk and told the guys to throw her up as well. She was so embarrassed, but the guys gave in and threw her up.
It was interesting to see this all take place.

At the end of the night, most of the teachers went to after parties but I decided to go home because I had to go to work the next day.

This morning, there were only like 3 guys in the teacher's office and they were all the way at the other end. My end was completely dark. lol. Yup, I'm the one who turned on the lights. Most people took nenkyu (vacation time) a few hours in the morning or just took the entire day off. It's Spring Break, so it's the perfect time to do that. I want to save my vacation days for later on though.

On Wednesday it's the English Department's Welcome Party for the new teachers. Hmmm...I might go to the after party for that one.

Harry Potter Personality Quiz

Jedisakora had this quiz posted on her LJ and I thought it would be interesting to take. The quiz can be found here at Quizilla.
I got Quiet Nerd. lol. I'm definitely a nerd, but not really a quiet one. It got half of my personality right.
Anyway, here are the results.

What's Your Reputation at Hogwarts (26 different characters


Quiet Nerd:
House: Ravenclaw
Best Friend: Hermione.

Gryffindors

Harry: Wants you to speak up more during class because he loves your voice and thinks you are quite intelligent.
Ron: Hopes that you get less like Hermione as you get older.
Hermione: Loves that you study as much as she does.
Oliver Wood: Doesn't know who you are.
Fred and George Weasley: Try to get you to play pranks with them to crack your tough shell.
Seamus Finnigan: Doesn't bother trying to get to know you.
Neville Longbottom: Is too busy dreaming about Ginny.
Dean Thomas: Bought you a book for Christmas because he had a crush on you.
Ginny Weasley: Tried to burn that book so that you would have more time to spend on being normal.
Parvati Patil: Is always too busy flirting with the Gryffindor boys to notice you.
Padma Patil: Same as Parvati.

Hufflepuffs

Cedric Diggory: Doesn't know who you are.

Ravenclaws

Cho Chang: Same as Cedric.

Slytherins

Draco Malfoy: Picks on you as often as possible because he knows it hurts your feelings.
Crabbe: Don't know you.
Goyle: Same as Crabbe.
Pansy Parkinson: Is always picking on you with Draco.
Marcus Flint: Wants to be smart like you, but knows he can't so he makes fun of you for it.
Blaise Zabini: Is the only Slytherin who's somewhat nice to you.

Teachers

Dumbledore: Tries to get you to like new things so that you won't be so shy.
Professor McGonagall: Likes how you don't talk during class.
Professor Flitwick: Knows you are afraid of showing you're true skills in class and tries to get you to demonstrate them in class.
Professor Trelawney: Predicts a lonely life for you.
Professor Snape: Forgets your name on a daily basis.
Filch: Doesn't even know you exist.


Music Listening to At the Moment: Placebo- "Meds"

Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Mei-chan's Butler) Season 1 Review

Last night I watched the last episode of Mei-chan no Shitsuji
( メイちゃんの執事). The English translation is Mei's Butler or Mei-chan's Butler.
For more info and links to the episodes, you can go to MySoju

SPOILERS AHEAD

Mei-chan no Shitsuji is about a poor girl, Mei, whose parents die and she finds out that she is the heiress to a fortune. She then goes to a school for rich girls and every girl has their own butler, including her. Mei's butler is called Rihito and he is played by Mizushima Hiro, who was also in Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) and Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend). Rihito's younger brother Kento is actually Mei's childhood friend. He ends up going to the school to become a butler in training in order to stay close to her.





The show was cute, although sometimes it had its corny moments. I think it's worth checking out if you are into Japanese tv series. It's much more directed to a younger, teenage audience though, so be warned if you don't like that type of thing. If you want something more mature, check out the series Love Shuffle. All of my students know Mei-chan no Shitsuji and think that it's funny that I watch it too. lol. Story of my life. Anyway, the end of the series was cute and creepy at the same time. In the last minutes of the final episode Rihito kisses Mei and then says "This is our little secret". He says that because it's forbidden for a butler and student to have a relationship at the school. However, since he plays a man much older than her, ( I mean he is a butler of a teenage girl) its also kind of creepy. If Mizushima looked older and not as cool, it would have looked uber duper weird. However, since everyone thinks he's cool here, the ending was perfect for a lot of viewers and it opened up the doors for the next season, especially since Kento went to study abroad in England to be a high class butler, like his older brother, in order to steal the girl, Mei, away for himself. Ok, so although I'm not sure how I feel about the end of season 1, I still want to see how it continues on to season 2.

Music Listening to At the Moment: the Veronicas- "All I Have"

Goodbye! Farewell! Sayonara! Until Next Time!

Spring is here, although it's been kind of cold all weekend and today, so it doesn't feel very springy. Anyway, with spring comes flowers and in Japan that means plenty of beautiful cheery blossoms (sakura). Over here, people go sakura flower viewing because it is so beautiful. They even have a name for this called hanami ( 花見）、which literally means flower viewing.

Anyway, although Sunday was a little bit chilly, really cloudy and even rained a bit, we went to go see the sakura nearby at Takuoka Castle. It was so beautiful. It left me speechless, which is a hard thing to do. lol. I almost got teary eyed because it was so beautiful and it was one of those moments were you tell yourself, "Oh my gosh, I am in freakin Japan. I can't believe it!" You would be surprised how easily you forget once your life becomes routine here as well.

This is an example of the before and after picture of the castle.
This is Takuoka Castle in the Fall



This is the castle in the spring.



If you want to take a look at more of my pictures of the cherry blossoms, you can go here to my Flickr Account.




Today, it was the Farewell Ceremony for the teachers who are being transferred out. Basically, all the teachers came into the main teacher's office 30 minutes before the ceremony. The principal said each one of their names and where they were going. We all clapped and bowed. Then, they made their way to the gym with all of the other teachers and students.

Today it's kind of cold and rainy, which means that the gym is cold, including the floor. Why do I never remember my indoor sneakers when I really need them? I was a bit jealous of the teachers who remembered to bring their indoor sneakers because my feet were freezing. lol.

Anyway, each teacher that was leaving gave a speech, including our vice-principal, who is going to be the principal at Alex's school. There are like 16 or 17 teachers in total who are going, including 2 who are retiring. This means that it took a really, really long time to get through all of the speeches, especially since many of the speeches were like 10 minutes or more, or at least that's what it felt like.

One teacher went all out for his speech. He spoke for like 20 minutes, he had visual aids, he made the student's do pair work, and he even had his own farewell song playing at the end of his speech. The next teacher who came up after him made a speech that was less than 2 minutes long. I was greatful to the second guy. lol.

Anyway by the end of it, some teacher's whose friends were leaving, were crying. A few of the kids were also emotional. I noticed that when the school band was playing a farewell song for the teachers, one flute player could barely play because she was crying so much. She had to keep wiping away her tears. Actually while I am writing this, she came into the teacher's room still teary eyed and asking one of the teachers, who is going away, to take a picture with her. Awwwwww!!!

There were also a lot of graduates here today. It's crazy to see them now. A month ago they were all wearing their uniforms and had straight, black hair in ponytails. Now they had dyed hair, perms, ridiculously high high-heeled shoes, and crazy clothing. It's cool to see how far the kids go with their looks because for so many years they can't do anything, not even put highlights in their hair, so the minute they graduate, they do everything and anything that they can to change their look. lol.

Oh another thing I didn't know about farewells is that the people who are leaving usually leave behind presents for the other teachers. Today, the mailboxes were all full of presents. I can't wait to see what I have, but I also feel a bit bad that I didn't buy anything for the English teachers who are leaving. Crap!

I have been a bit confused about why they are always transferring the teachers, but today one of the English teachers gave me an answer to that. He said that they don't want teachers to end up being too lazy, laid back (I guess too comfortable with their position) at a school. He also said it's because by transferring teachers, they will be unable to make very strong connections with one school, which would allow them to do anything they want. I guess it's a system of keeping teachers on their toes.

It still kind of sucks because they are not really stable. They don't really know where they are going to move next. Some teachers end up transferring a couple of hours away, so they have to live apart from their families during the weekdays because their families can't move with them. However, some teachers get excited because they are moving closer to their families or they are moving to a school that they know well and know the people there. It all depends on the person and the location that they are being placed in.

Anyway, today is the Farewell Teacher's Party at night. It should be fun! :)

エンゼル (Angel), エンゼル (Angel) wuah, wuah, wuah

Eric today showed me another cute commercial. It's for Mister Donut's, which is a donut chain kind of like Dunkin' Donuts back home. Anyway, it's promoting a donut hole that has a filling. Believe me, this little number will get stuck in your head quickly.

I should really turn on my tv more so that I can watch all of the commercials.



Tell me your reactions. Hate it or love it? It's really making me want to go to Mister Donuts to try it out. It looks kind of yummy.

I Feel Muppety Today!

"Kermit, you need to take care of your eyes. You have wonderful eyes. They are like......two ping-pong balls floating in a sea of mildew."
~~Grover


Today Eric, Monica and I were watching the latest episode of 30 Rock. In the episode, Kenneth pictured everyone as muppets. Eric said "I wonder what I would look like as a muppet?" That got me thinking, so I borrowed his laptop and wrote in my Twitter "If I were a muppet I would be bright pink with purple hair. I would also have cute dimples. One can imagine."
Eric read my post and then wrote in his twitter " If i were a muppet I would have angel hair and my skin would be Jewish purple. I would have a giant triangle nose."

After the episode ended, Monica decided to draw us all as muppets.

Here is my picture as a muppet:



Here are Eric's and Monica's muppet faces.





Aren't they cute? Good Job Monica! :)

Boys Before Flowers, of course. Is that even a question?

“I’m so busy that I don’t even remember that you didn’t call me for 3 days and 13 hours!” -Goo Jun Pyo

I am a bit addicted to Asian dramas. I feel as if this past year my anime addiction has turned into a tv drama addiction. lol. There always has to be something, right?

Anyway here are two Asian Dramas that I really like.


Hana Yori Dango 花より男子　(Japanese) & Boys Before Flowers 꽃보다 남자 (Korean)
They are 2 versions of the same story. lol.

-Some spoilers


A few months ago my obsession was Hana Yori Dango (Japanese Drama). It's based on the manga series. It's basically about a rich boy (Domyoji) with a power trip who falls for the one girl (Makino) who doesn't let him get his way. The drama series was great and of course how can you not love Oguri Shun, the actor who plays Hanazawa Rui, the love rival and best friend to Domyoji. Oh boy, I wanted him to end up with the girl at the end because he is soooo much cooler. lol. Anyway, I digress.
If you want to check out more information on Hana Yori Dango read on:
Hana Yori Dango has 2 seasons and a movie. The first season has 9 episodes and the second season has 11 episodes. The movie takes places after the 2nd season. For more information on Hana Yori Dango and all of its episodes, you can go to MySoju . You can also watch the first part of the first episode down here, so check it out:










Anyway, my new obsession is Boys before Flowers, which is the Korean version of the same drama. Yup, it's basically the same story, except it's in Korean with Korean actors (obviously) and a bit of changes here and there to the story line. I have to admit though that I was way more into the Japanese version than the Korean version. Maybe it's because I saw that one first.

In the Korean version, the rich boy is called Goo Jun Pyo. The poor girl he becomes interested in is Geum Jan Di and the love rival/ best friend if Yoon Ji Hoo
There is one more episode left and I can't wait to see what happens next. While the "oh-so-beautiful-boy" in the Japanese version was Oguri Shun, in the Korean version it's Lee Min-ho (Goo Jun Pyo).

The Korean version has one season so far with 24 episodes. I'm waiting for the 24th (last) episode right now. For more info and all of the episodes click on MySoju
To check out the first part of the first episode, look below

BoysBeforeFlowers01.1
by jangchris0101

If you guys haven't watched any of these, you should definitely go watch them. I recommend watching the Japanese version first.

Baby, Come Back To Me

Hey Everyone,

American i-tunes has Utada's new music video "Come Back to Me" for free this week. I thought that was pretty cool.

I bought Utada's new album yesterday from American i-tunes.
The album was like 3,000 Yen (about $30) in the music/book store Tsutaya. In Japan i-tunes it was 2,000 Yen (about $20). However, in American i-tunes it was $7.99.
lol of course I would get it from the US i-tunes.

I've heard it through and it's pretty good. I really like the song "Apple and Cinnamon".

Yesterday I also found a song that I had been looking for. During the cultural festival (around September) one of the students sang a really pretty song. I even recorded a little bit of it on my camera because the student sang it so well. Anyway, ever since then, I've been wondering what song it was. Yesterday, I finally realized it was an old Utada Hikaru song called "First Love". Mystery solved. lol.

I'm basically alone in the teacher's office again. There is only like 2 other people. I wonder what's going on. I never know. lol.

It's Spring Break: Go Have Fun!!!

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."
— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Ok, so it's technically spring break, so why do I see the students in the morning and they even have cleaning time before lunch before they go off. I was so confused by this.


I told my supervisor that I didn't understand spring break here. It's not really spring break, is it?

He started laughing and he said. "Ummm...everyone realizes that, but no one says anything. We especially don't say it to the students because it would make them sad.The reason it's called spring break is because the kid's have off in the afternoons."


LAME!!!

Listening to Songs/Chillin in the Office, Dread/ When Is It Lunch Time- (Haiku Time)

"On the list of things that are not ok, that is REALLY not ok!" - Wilt (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)


Monica and I were kind of bored last week, so we started e-mailing haikus to each other(5-7-5), although we were sitting across from each other.
First we did haikus with no themes at all. It was just us writing to each other.

Steph:

Whoah Nelly, it's hot
I like it burning it up
Mmmmm coffee is good


Nelly of course refers to Nelly's song "Hot in Here". Yes, my epertise are soooo great that I even have great references in my haiku.

As you can probably tell, I spelled expertise wrong, so this is how she responded.

Monica:

Epertise is great...
But you can't really beat this,
Womanizer uh!

Yes that was a burn on your last comment and a reference to the recent pop hit by Britney Spears.

I, of course, had to respond back, so I did 3 in a row.

Steph:

Where have you been, huh
Under a rock in the sea
New release is Circus


Burnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!


Pop music is great
Especially when they fall
On their big butocks

Yes, I spelled buttocks wrong. lol.


Sorry writing ability is not so great right now

Did you know this bit
Keanu Reeves is mad hot
But looks a bit dull


After this, we decided to make rules. We would pick a noun, verb and adjective and compete against each other to see what we would come up with. These limitations made our haikus a bit more interesting. lol.

First: noun- dog Verb- spell Adjective: Sparkly

Steph:

Your dog face is sparkly
It makes me want to pinch it
At least you can spell

Monica:

Glittery butt dog,
Casts sparkly little poo spells,
That don't smell pretty.

Poo reference! Yeah!

Next- Noun: diarrhea Verb: run Adj: long

Steph:

diahrea blues
As it runs its course through me
Oh how long its been

Monica:

Strange mental hiccups,
I have brain diarrhea!
Long running giggles.

Last one: Noun: sex toy Verb: Vibrate (although I kind of used it wrong) Adj: sweaty

Steph:

Sex Toy Wonderland
The store had good vibrations
His sweaty palm, gross

Monica:

Sex toy shopping spree,
Awkward, sweaty transaction
Free to vibrate, Wee!

Now the important question: Who do you think should be considered the winner?

Japanese Commercials, Gotta Love Them :)

I have a funny commercial with Matsuda Shota (松田翔太 ) . He is in Hana Yori Dango and Love Shuffle. He is adorable even in something like this. lol.

This is like the skinny guys vs. the bigger, muscly guys (something like that).

Eric really liked it and showed it to me and I thought it was cute too.

Cross Cultural Influences From The Past

I'm a Portuguese-American living in Japan. This is actually the first time I have been in Asia. Since I have been here (8 months), I have learned about a lot of cross cultural things between Portugal and Asia (specifically Japan) that are so integrated into the cultures that we don't even notice them anymore.

Food:

Tempura- Tempura is a traditional Japanese dish of deep fried vegetables and/or seafood/ fish. It is deliciousness to the extreme. Sweet potato and pumpkin tempura are amazing.
Anyway, I have learned that tempura was brought here from Portuguese missionaries and traders.
Here is the information I found on Wikipedia. You know how I like wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia : Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese[1] missionaries and traders.[2] The word tempura, or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word "tempora," a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesimae), Fridays, and other Christian holy days. Ember Days or quattuor tempora refer to holy days when Catholics avoid meat and instead eat fish or vegetables. Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, loved tempura so much that he apparently died after eating too much of it according to lore. The idea that the word "tempura" may have been derived from the Portuguese noun tempero, meaning a spicy condiment or peppery seasoning, or from the verb temperar, meaning "to season" has not been substantiated.[2] There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called peixinhos da horta, "garden fishies." However, the Japanese language could easily have assumed the word "tempero" as is, without changing any vowels as both languages are phonetically similar.



カステラ　(kasutera) - It's a popular Japanese sponge cake, which is considered a specialty in Nagasaki. Apparently it comes from the Portuguese Pão de Castela, which is similar to pão-de-ló.

According to Wikipedia: 　In the 16th century, the Portuguese reached Japan, and soon started trade and missionary work. Nagasaki was then the only Japanese port open for foreign commerce. The Portuguese introduced many then-unusual things, such as guns, tobacco, and pumpkins - and castella. It was able to be preserved for a long period of time, and so was useful for the sailors who were out on the sea for months. In the Edo Period, in part due to the cost of sugar, it was an expensive dessert. When the Emperor of Japan's envoy was invited, the Tokugawa Shogunate presented the Castella.[1] Over the years, the taste changed to suit Japanese palates.　

Now for the opposite: Tea : In Portuguese, we say chá for tea. I was surprised when I heard people using the same word here　ちゃ　（　or in kanji 茶　） cha for tea. I later learned the tea is cha in Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Japanese. According to Wiki, " In 1557, Portugal established a trading port in Macau and word of the Chinese drink "chá" spread quickly" to Portugal. I thought that was interesting that all of these countries were using the same word because it spread from China.


Weapons

Since I live in Kyushu, I thought this was interesting. The island of Tanegashima, a southern island of Kyushu belonging to Kagoshima prefecture, is where guns were first introduced into Japan. Apparently a Portuguese ship got blown off course, landed in Tanegashima, and the rest is history.

Religion (Roman Catholic)
Portuguese and Spanish missionaries were the first to bring Christian beliefs to Japan. When I went to Roman Catholic Mass here, the people called it ミサ　(misa), which is the same word we use for mass in Portugal. Since it's written in katakana, I just figured that it probably came from the first missionaries who entered Japan and then stuck. If anyone knows if this is true or not or has any more info, please tell me.

More info in Wikipedia of course. lol. You can find it here and here.

________________________________________


I think that it's interesting that encounters that took place hundreds of years ago, can effect the countries, their cultures and/or languages so much. I think that now we take it for granted because with the new global age, we can be connected quickly to a person and learn about another culture so quickly through the internet and other forms of media, so we are constantly being influenced by other countries and vice and versa. However, this was even true hundreds of years ago, but in a smaller scale. It's interesting how these cultural things were spread and how they have lasted over the ages by being integrated to other cultures.


I wish I had moew information on how Portugal was influenced by Japan.
If anyone has any info about that, please share it with me.
Actually if you have any info about cross cultural connections that have lasted after hundreds of years, please share that too. I always find that interesting.

On a funny note, sometimes I find words that sound similar, but are completely different.
For example, in Japanese Sakana ( 魚　) means fish. In Portugal, we have a similar sounding word called Sacana, except it means devious or a**hole. lol. 　

Teacher Transfer Drama

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

Let me take the time to rewind a bit. I'm rewinding it to the 19th of March. The 19th of March was a very important day here at school because that's when the teacher transfer calls took place.

Ok, so here in Japan, they move around teachers. The teachers don't ask to be transferred, but when they are told to do it, they must pack up and leave. Sometimes, the transfer is for a school close by and sometimes it can be like 3 hours away. If you are being transferred, then it can be anywhere in the prefecture.

Anyway, all week 2 English teachers thought they were being transferred. One of them was a young teacher who got married not too long ago and another is a teacher whose wife had a baby a few months ago. Both of them really didn't want to move. The teacher who got married was really sad the whole week. It was a bit painful to see her because you knew she was worried. The good thing was that neither one was transferred. Woohoo!!!

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me go back to March 19, lunch time. During lunch, all the teacher's were in the office, eating their lunch silently and waiting for the phone calls. It's eerily quite and the tension is high. My bento was curry, which I love, and the food didn't even fall right because I was nervous that a couple of the English teachers that I really like were leaving.

This is how it works. The principal gets the calls and then he calls the Vice principal, who is in the teacher's office. Every　time the phone rings, everyone turns to the VP, waiting for a name to come out of his mouth. When it does, that teacher goes to find out where they are placed. Then, they come back (many teary eyed) telling us where they are being transferred to.

It's a really nerve-wrecking situation, especially for those teachers who didn't want to be transferred, but are being forced to.

Right after all of this, classes continue so we must put on our happy faces and keep our spirits (genkiness) up.

That was a pretty crazy situation to go through. At the end of it all, we found out that two English teachers are leaving. One cool young teacher is going, but she already knew she was leaving because she just became a full time teacher recently, so there was a good chance that they were going to place her somewhere else. She was happy with her placement because it was a school that she had worked at in the past.
The other English teacher wasn't actually transferred. She decided to quit after this school year.
This meant Farewell Drinking Party for the English Department. Woohoo!!! But Goodbye to 2 great teachers, nooooo!!!

Last Day of School, Woohoo!!!

Hey Everyone!

Today is the last day of school for the school year. Woohoo!!! All the kids are already gone because they only had half a day.

This morning, there was a first period class, which I didn't have anyway. Yay!!! Then, there was a full period of cleaning time. I didn't really do much. The third period was closing ceremony. I didn't even notice that the closing ceremony was going on in the gym because so many teachers were still in the office cleaning out their desks. I passed by the gym, it looked boring, so I went to my desk and cleaned it out as well.

Today is Monica's last day here because in April she is going to Paul's school. BOOOOO!!! Yeah, it's a little sad. We decided to celebrate by going to a good restaurant, Creighton House. Yummmmm!!! I wish I had taken pictures. I had a chicken pasta with a roll on the side. Yup, that's my carb intake for the day. Then, we went to a convenience store and got some coffee. Extra, duper yum!!! I am running on a caffeine high right about now.

Anyway, a lot of teachers seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. I bet they are watching the Korea vs. Japan baseball game. At lunch, the table next to us had two ladies watching the game from their cell phones. It's a big deal here. Hmmm...I wonder who will win? It's a tie right now.

I am just chillin now. I know I should be practicing my kanji, but it's so much more fun to read celebrity gossip online. lol.

By the way, it's such a beautiful spring day. It's sunny, hot and breezy. It's great weather.

Whoah Monica was talking to me and suddenly we heard the baseball game. Someone put the baseball game on a little tv or cell phone or something. It reminds me of back home when a big soccer game was on or when everyone was watching the World Cup.

Update: Japan just won!!!

Okonomiyaki Time

I think that every time I post, it opens the flood gates to another post. I think that I post in clumps, leave for a month, and then do another clump. I should be more consistent.

Anyway, let me talk about one type of Japanese food that I never had until I got here. Well to be truthful, I never really ate Japanese food until I came to Japan.

Anyway, today I will be talking about Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き ). It's a Japanese pancake with basically anything. More specifically, it's a mixture of vegetables, beef, pork, or seafood.
According to Wikipedia, and we all know that they are never wrong "The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked' ".

Usually, but not always, you ask for what you want. Then, they will bring you a bowl with the raw ingredients. There is a grill in front of you, so you mix the ingredients and make the pancake yourself. Then you savor its deliciousness.

This is a video of Monica, Eric and I eating at an Okonomiyaki place close to our house. We are being silly while cooking the food.

Catching Up!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I have left you hanging. This is what has been happening to me.

A month ago, my bike got stolen. Yup, the bike I bought when I first arrived in Japan. I was eating at the burger place, Mos Burger, and someone took it. That was a bit sad. I had to report it to the police and everything, but of course it was never found. It even had a toy squishy frog thing that my predecessor gave me. He loved that toy. I really haven't had the heart to e-mail him and tell him that it's gone. lol.

Anyway, today I bought a new bike. It's shiny, pink and adorable. You can see it here

Well, in other news. In the first weekend of March, the seniors (third years) graduated. The graduation ceremony was really quiet and there was a lot of bowing. Let me rewind a bit. The graduation took place on a Sunday. However, all of the teachers and students were in school for both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we had 1st period class and then everyone had a 3 hour cleaning time. Oh dear! I cleaned out my desk and papers. Then, I went to the gym to see some of the kids getting the gym ready for the special day. After that, we all had to attend the graduation rehearsal.
On the actual graduation day, I came to school and the student's were already cleaning again. Geez! Then, the ceremony took place. The third year female teachers and some of the moms were dressed in traditional clothing, which was cool to see.
For lunch, the teachers got a special bento (lunch box). This is what it looked like. That's mushrooms on the left on top of the rice. It was pretty darn good.
Although the seniors graduated early March, the last day of school for the rest of the students is only tomorrow. That means that my last classes for the school year were today. Woohoo!!! The new school year starts in April. Yup, that soon. The teachers also have to come to school everyday anyway. Lame!!!

Another thing I have done was attend mass at a catholic church. Everything was pretty much the same, except it was all in Japanese. The one main difference was that when we offer peace, instead of hugging, kissing on the cheek, or shaking hands, everyone bows at each other. Yup, there is no touching, just bowing.
One older lady came to my side, so that I could share her book and sing along. In the end, she started talking to me in English. I was pretty surprised. Then, she told me that she practices English for an hour every morning because she listens to an English lesson on the radio everyday. Wow! That's pretty cool.

Oh, what else have I been up to? Well I joined a gym. I feel as if ever since I started going to the gym, I have also started eating more. lol. I go about 2 times a week. I should really go more times. I need to lose some pounds for the summer, but I can't really see that happening too soon. Anyway, I had to buy indoor sneakers for the gym. lol. Yup! I was also asked if I had a tattoo, which I don't. Apparently it's prohibited. Anyway I hope that I will get more into the routine of the gym, but I can't see that happening any time soon. I need more will power for the gym. lol.

Last but not least, I joined Twitter today. Here is my Twitter account.