Work & Books

Lately, my confidence as an ALT has not been very high. I feel like I can't read the students and their abilities properly. I'm also not that creative with lesson plans. I'm not the type of ALT who is able to create endless games and activites when given a theme or goal for a lesson. I really wish I was. However, I do love the students and the school. They are all good kids. I wish I could be a better teacher for them. I guess I just have to try harder. Yes, I will keep a smile on my face and try to do my best even when the kids look at me in silence with a "WTF -is-she-saying face". Sigh!

In other Stephanie news, I can't believe how little I've been reading. I need to step up my game. In six months, I've only read 7 books. Geez, I would have liked to have read more. I blame it on all of the tv series that I have been watching lately. lol.
Anyway, here is my recent list of books that I have read this year:

1. PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
2. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
3. At the Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker
4. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
5. The Girl Most Likely To... by Susan Donovan
6. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Lunch Time: Where's My Bento?

Let me take some time to talk about bentos. Bentos are lunch boxes. Usually, they are home made. However, you can buy take out bentos from places like convenience stores or Hotto Motto, which is a takeout bento chain restaurant.

In the States, when I think of lunch boxes, I think of sandwiches or last night's dinner in tuberware. This is not true here in Japan.

Bentos here tend to be actual meals, not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They are also thought through carefully before they are made. Housewives will have strategies about where they should put food and how the food should look, so that the overall bento not only tastes good but it looks mighty appetizing and pretty.  This is why many times little kids might have little sausages that  look like cute octopus.

At school, most of the kids bring bentos made by their mothers. I remember once I went with one of the clubs to a special competition. All of the kids had nice bentos. However, one girl had food from the convenience store like me. Before this day, I always felt bad for the housewives and working mothers who had to labor away every day and make these bentos for their kids and husbands. However, that day, I felt bad for the kid because she was the only one without one. It was strange to see it from the other side. Instead of thinking about the bento through the woman's perspective, I was realizing how important it was through my student's perspective.

Students of course are not the only ones with bentos. Many married people who work with me also bring their bento to work. Men have the bento that their wives made for them. Women have the bento that they made for themselves, probably after they had made their children's and then husband's bento.
Most of the single crowd, including myself, just end up buying a bento from school or we get lunch from somewhere else. Sad! I need to find a guy that would make a cute bento for me. lol. That would probably be very difficult to find. lol.

Anyway, here is a link that has really cute bentos. These are all works of art. The kitty one is super adorable. Take a look here.

Lady Gaga is a Hop, Skip & Expensive Plane Ride Away From Me! Wow!

For some Lady Gaga news. Yes, Lady Gaga. Don't make fun of me. lol.

I do like Lady Gaga. She has some catchy tunes and her craziness keeps people interested in her.

However, I have no idea why she decided to arrive in Tokyo with this outfit.

I don't even feel comfortable enough in Miyazaki to walk around in a tank top and she is wearing ripped leggings.

Ok, so maybe girls here wear the shortest skirts I have ever seen, but for some reason, their top part is always fully covered. Maybe Lady Gaga is taking notes and covering up her top part, but showing off everything in the bottom half of her body. However, she really could have done a better job at perfected the semi-nakedness fashion technique. I'm horrible at fashion, but even I know that can't be good.

I know that this post was pretty pointless, but it keeps my mind off of the next class that I have to teach. Ahhhh!!!



Music currently Listening to: Lady Gaga "Love Game"

New Hair Cut: Please Don't Look At Me Like That

This week I finally got my straight perm (2nd since I've been here) and my haircut. Before I show you my hair cut, I wanted to tell you my inspiration for it. I was walking around Tsutaya book store and I wandered over the magazine section. I looked to my right and BOOM the hair that I've been wanting to pull off suddenly appeared in the form of a magazine cover. Let me give you some background information before I continue on with my hair cut journey so that you can better understand my instant hesitation after picking up the magazine. I'm terrified of bangs. Ok, maybe terrified is too strong a word. Actually, I just haven't had bangs since I was like 9 years old. My mom and I never really liked how bangs looked on me, so I grew them out and never looked back. Truthfully, I never even thought of looking back until I saw the haircut.

Anyway, Utada was on the cover of the magazine and I really liked the haircut on her. I showed the magazine to Monica and I stood there waiting for her to turn the idea down. Yes, I fully intended to put that magazine right back down. Monica however said that I should take a picture of it and take it to the beauty salon with me. I thought "Oh crap, that's not the reaction I was waiting for". I thought about it and thought about it. I took a picture and thought about it some more. I kept trying to imagine what I would look like with bangs, but the image would just not come to me. Finally, I just bought the magazine and decided to go for it.

Ok, so maybe I didn't actually decide to go for it right away. I sent the picture to Matt, Kim, and Asha to see what their reactions would be. Kim was a complete "YES". Asha was a "Uhhh...I don't know". Matt didn't even reply back because he didn't want to tell me that he thought it might be a bad idea.

Then, I asked my parents. First I asked my dad. Instead of commenting on the hair, he commented on the pretty girl (Utada) on the cover. Once I got him to focus again, he said that I should do it. My mother however, was as scared of the bangs as I was.

Monday rolled around and I decided to finally go to the beauty salon. This is where I tell you the differences between my beauty salon here in Miyazaki to my beauty salon back home. In the salon here, not only do they have magazines to pass the time, but they also have mangas that we can read while waiting or getting our hair cut. Maybe that's why I see so many college kids with crazy anime/manga hair. Those host boys have to be influenced by something for their crazy hair. Maybe it's the manga they read at the beauty salon.

The next difference is that my beauty salon here has a variety of drinks that I can ask for free of charge while they are working on my hair. In my 3 1/2 hour process of straight perming and cutting my hair, I drank a cup of iced oolong tea and a cup of iced coffee.

Another thing that I like is that they put a blanket on your lap when they wash your hair. At least that's what they do in my super cool hair salon.

What's the best difference between my hair salon here compared to the one back home. I'm going to get a lot of flack for this, but I think that the boys that work in my hair salon here are much cooler. They tend to have cool hairstyles, cool hair and just an all around cool aura. Yes, I wrote cool 3 times in one sentence. That just shows their coolness factor that I'm hit with every time I walk into a salon here. Please don't curse me out. I'm just comparing my hair salons. I'm sorry if you are a super cool hair stylist boy in America. I don't mean to offend you. Maybe I should go to your hair salon when I return back home.

Moving on...here is my new hair cut.



As for my inspiration, you can find it at Utada Hikaru's website.

I have to admit that I was so scared when the hair stylist gave me bangs. When she took her scissors out, I told her how scared I was. My Japanese is horrible, but I think that at least I was able to relay that to her through my weird giggling and sudden movements every time I saw the scissors going to that area. All in all, I think it came out OK. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be, but it also doesn't look as good as it does on Utada. I think that once I grow out my bangs I will like it more or maybe I just have to get used to them.

Since I got it, I've had mixed reviews. Some people like it, including Matt who was the one who at first hesitated when I showed him the picture I took from the magazine. Other people don't like it so much, so they worked extra hard to think of a compliment. lol.
I'm ok with it, which is what matters. :)




Music currently Listening to: Utada "This One (Crying Life a Child)