Home and Back

Published on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.

I went home to America for the holidays and I have to admit that I had a lot of fun. I had missed spending time with my family and friends. In the 2 weeks I was there, I ate tons of food, watched a lot of late night reruns of shows, such as Bridezillas , & received and gave a lot of hugs. I also took pictures, so that I could show my students when I came back to Japan.

 The students loved seeing the pictures of Christmas decorations, my Christmas tree, snow (it doesn't really snow in this area) and a couple of pictures that I took in NYC when I went there with my mom to do some shopping. 

However, the picture that seemed the most popular was the one I took of our main dish on Christmas day. It was a picture of leitão (suckling pig), which is a popular dish in the region that my parents are from in Portugal,  which is known as Bairrada. Both teachers and students were amazed by this picture. There were all different reactions to it. Some were disgusted. Others were confused, amused and even interested in knowing more about it. I even heard some girls say "Kawaii" (cute). When I said that it was delicious, a lot of them looked at me incredulously and others giggled. lol. Yes, the picture was a hit among my students.



I've realized that a lot of people here take pictures of their food when the food looks really good, cute, or just different from the norm. I should have taken more pictures of the different foods I ate back home, both the American and Portuguese stuff. I think they would have liked that.

For more pictures, you can go to my Flickr Account

Song Listening to At the Moment: "Yours Only"by Nishino Kana

Tons of Coffee + TV = Weird Media Connections

Post first published on January 7, 2010.

As many of you know, I went home to the US  for the holidays recently. I was with my family on New Years watching New Years Rockin Eve on tv. On the show, Selena Gomez sang two songs. That's when it hit me, Disney Channel is basically following the same procedure with their artists like Asian companies do, such as Johnny's in Japan or  SM Entertainment in Korea.

Entertainment companies here (Asia) will take in artists, train them in different things, such as singing, acting, modeling and so on. Then, they get them jobs in all of these different fields. That's why usually pop singers also appear in dramas, like Matsumoto Jun in Japan or Uee in Korea. It's also why they call them "talent" (meaning artists) and not simply "Singers" or "Models". It's like making the most out of one artist and they know their capabilities because usually they are training under the company since they are very young.

I feel like Disney lately has been doing that with their artists. I mean, just think about what they have done with Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and many others. I mean, they even make good singers do acting jobs when they can't act that well & they make good actors do singing jobs when they can't really sing. In the end, they make these teen stars successful in many fields and they hold on to them as long as they can while trying to make the most money out of them. It's ridiculously smart of Disney to do it, especially since they are involved in all fields of the entertainment business.

Actually, Disney takes it above and beyond. Not only are their artists in various fields of the entertainment business, but they are working within the Disney company in these various fields, so Disney is bringing in all of the money. For example, take Miley Cyrus. She became famous because of Hannah Montana, which is a Disney show. Through the show, she began her singing career. She is now an extremely famous singer. What's her record label? She is under Hollywood Records, which is owned by the Disney Company. Miley is also in movies. Her latest movie, which is coming out this year, is called The Last Song. Although Offspring Entertainment produced the film, it is being distributed by Touchstone Pictures, which is part of the Walt Disney Company as well. Even Miley's book, Miles to Go, was published under Disney-Hyperion Books. Wow!

I think that Disney is probably the closest thing that America has to Asian entertainment companies like SM or YG, since they do take young adults and place them in various media fields instead of only labeling them as "singers" or "actors".
Yet, there are still differences because of the great amount of power Disney has in all of the media outlets.


Anyway, if I wrote anything that is wrong, I'm sorry. This was just a connection I made while I was watching tv.

Snow Storm hits = Crazy Flight Home

Post first published on January 6, 2010.

So I went home in December and I have already returned back to Japan. First, I would like to post about my flight home.

I left Miyazaki on the 19th of December and because of the time difference, I was supposed to arrive on the same day (the 19th of December) at night in Jersey. It didn't quite work out that way because of the snow storm that hit the East Coast of the US.

Let me start from the beginning. I went from Miyazaki to Osaka Itami. From there, I caught an airport bus to Osaka Kansai airport, which took about 70 minutes. Then, I went from Osaka Kansai Airport to San Fransico airport. Once, I reached San Francisco, I was tired and couldn't wait to catch my last plane, which would take me to Jersey (home sweet home). However, it didn't quite work out that way.

In San Francisco, they basically told me that all of the flights going to Jersey and New York were canceled because of a snow storm. WHAT??? Then, I was told that the next available flight for me would be on the 21st. Remember, this was on the 19th. Oh dear! I was then given a list of times and gates for flights that I could wait on stand by for and I was told to take some clothes that I might need for the 2 days out of my luggage and then check in the bags. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my family for the 2 weeks we had together before I had to return back to Miyazaki and I was already being cut by 2 days. On top of that, I had just arrived from Japan, so I was already so tired.

I decided to wait for the stand-by flights, which of course is what most people were doing. The first one was at like 10 something at night. I ate, walked around the airport and tried to entertain myself. The flight was of course full and I had no chance to get on. Crap!

I ended up going to one of the gates that was empty and sleeping there. Truthfully, I could only sleep for a couple of hours. I was using my backpack as a pillow, but I was still afraid that someone would steal my things.

The next morning (December 20th) , I waited for the next stand-by flight. I was tired, sleepy, running on coffee, but I still had a bit of hope that I would make it home before the 21st. When I looked up on the stand-by list, my name wasn't there. Your name is supposed to automatically go into the next flight, but what I didn't know (and apparently many others didn't know) was that it refreshes the next day, so you have to put your name back on every day. I went to customer service where I saw many familiar faces from the day before. Each one was asking to put their names back on the list and asking if there were any flights to Jersey or New York. Of course, the answer was always "No".

I was lucky enough to get a man working there that instead of saying "No", like everyone else, he tried hard to find me a flight. He couldn't find anything, and then he told me, " I found one that leaves today". I was so happy. I felt like crying. I walked away with a smile on my face, but when I looked back down on my ticket, the name on it wasn't mine.

When I went back to him, he was helping out a boy with a ticket he had. He saw me and asked me what was wrong. When I told him, he realized that he had booked me for the day before's flight at 1 PM, which is what I originally was supposed to go on. As this was going on, he unlocked the kid's ticket and was able to help him out. He also realized that the kid was going to NY Laguardia Airport and there was another seat for me.

He told me if I was ok with NY. When I said YES, he told me that I was taking the same route as the kid before me. He gave me a bunch of tickets and an itinerary. He said you are going to Bozeman, then Chicago and then NY. I also had to run to the gate because they were boarding. I was so happy. I didn't even care that I had no idea where Bozeman was.

The plane I went on was tiny. We had to get on by going on the runway and getting up stairs. My backpack didn't even fit the upper compartment. I starting wondering "Where the heck is Bozeman?". I was too embarrassed to ask anyone, so I just kept quiet.

Once we arrived, I was surprised to see just snow and mountains. It was literally a tiny airport, snow, mountains and that's it. It was beautiful. Stunning! I just didn't know where I was. The airport has a small gift shop, so I decided to go there for clues to where I was. That's when I saw all of the Montana souvenirs. I thought, "Wow, I'm in Montana!". lol.

This is a picture I took from the airport in Bozeman.



Next, I went to Chicago. In Chicago, it was also chaos because of the snow storm. There were tons of people waiting on stand by. I felt bad for all of the people who were waiting for seats, but I also felt relieved that I finally had a ticket home. The flight from Chicago to NY Laguardia was super full and there were 120 people on stand- by. Wow! I was hoping that those people could get home somehow before Christmas Eve. It's a really sad sight to see people and families praying for a way to arrive home for the holidays. It broke my heart.

When I finally arrived at NY Laguardia, I was so happy to be in my mom and dad's arms. I hadn't seen them in a year and the trip home to see them felt like it took forever. I was really thankful that I was able to arrive home when so many people were still stuck in airports.
We drove from NY Laguardia to Newark Airport in Jersey because my luggage went there. Then, we finally went home.

It was a long trip, but I'm so happy that I was able to make it home & see my family.

Song I'm Listening to At the Moment: "Sign" by Brown Eyed Girls

Getting Ready for Christmas Vacation

Post first published on December 16, 2009.

I'm going to go home this Saturday. Well, kind of. I'm going back to Jersey for Christmas, but I will be going to a completely different house. Since I have been in Japan, my parents have moved from a small apartment in an urban area, where I was born and raised, to a bigger place in a suburban area. Truthfully, I think that this move was great for them. Their landlord is a friend of theirs and their neighbors are also good friends. The house looks nice and the area is much, much better from where we use to live. I'm actually really excited to see the new house and to put my imprint in my new room.

This will also be the first time I go back home since I have been here, so about a year and a half. I can't wait to see my family and friends and hang out in all of the places I have missed. I have a list of things to see, people to hang out with and things to buy, but I'm not sure if I can do half of what I want.

Although I'm super excited, I'm also a bit nervous. A lot has happened with people back home since I've left. Friends have gotten new jobs, become engaged and so on. I just wonder how people will interact with me and how they will react to my own changes. I think it should all be fine though.

My flight is also super crazy. I'm going from Miyazaki to Osaka. Then, in Osaka, I have to change airports (domestic to international). Then, I leave Osaka and go to San Francisco. From San Francisco, I finally go to Jersey. It's going to be a long flight.

Last year, I did a similar crazy flight, except I was going to see my family in Portugal. I went from Miyazaki to Tokyo Haneda (domestic). Then, I had to switch airports to fly out of the international airport, Narita. From Narita, I went to Germany. Finally, from Germany, I went to Lisbon. Whoah, tiring!

I have so many things that I want to take back home, but I don't want to make my bags heavy because of all of the airport changes.


Before even going, I have to buy gifts, clean, pack and see some of my friends here before I go.

For example, today I have a Japanese lesson at my house. We are going to play the Japanese version of Life (the board game). We began it last time, but we didn't finish. Yes, I am losing. lol. Most of the time, I have no idea what is going on. I really must improve my Japanese.

Then, I will try to end the lesson 10 minutes early, so that I can catch a bus to go downtown. I need to buy a Christmas cake to take to Lauren's house and some other things for tomorrow's class.

I also have to meet up with my friend Minjin. She is also part of the Jet program, except she is a CIR not ALT. When we can, we do conversation practice to help her improve her English. In return, she teaches me a bit of Korean. To get ready for today, I have been trying to memorize as much hangul, Korean alphabet, as I can. My memory is horrible by the way, but I really want to learn.

We are also meeting up because we have omiyage (souvenirs) that we still haven't exchanged with each other from places we went to in November. We wanted to do that before I left for America.

Edit- Minjin is not feeling well, so we are not meeting up. :( I hope she gets better soon. ::Drink Tea, Rest & Stay Warm Minjin::

Wow Japanese and then Korean in one day. My head will be super confused. I guess it usually is on most days. lol.

Anyway, after that, I will go to Lauren's house because 4 of my friends who live in the west side of the city are having a Christmas gathering. They are bringing the KFC and I will bring the Christmas cake - Oh yeah, Japanese Christmas (lol). However, they will start at 6:30 PM, but I will only be able to get there at 8 something. Ahhh...they might be kind of mad at me for that. Hopefully, not too mad. (-_^)

It sounds a bit chaotic, but I think it will be fun.

Otaku ALT & Music on Repeat

Post first published on December 10, 2009

JTE (Japanese English Teacher) told the class that I was an otaku (nerd). I don't think the students were surprised. They've known me for over a year. I think they already knew about my nerd status. However, it was weird when he made them repeat "Stephanie is a nerd" to practice the "Ner" sound. It brought back flashbacks from when I was younger. lol. It was strange, but funny. Can you imagine an entire class of Japanese students saying all together "Stephanie is a nerd". lol


Anyway, do you guys ever check your i-tunes list of Top 25 Most Played songs. At the moment, this is mine.

i-pod Top 25 Most Played Songs ( December 11)

1. This One (Crying Like A Child) by Utada
2. Love Like This by SS501
3. She's Gone (feat. Kush) by G-Dragon
4. The Leaders (feat. Teddy & CL) by G-Dragon
5. Haru Haru by Big Bang
6. Ring Ding Dong by SHINee
7. Sober by Kelly Clarkson
8. Que Deus Me Perdoe by Mariza
9. Apple and Cinnamon by Utada
10. Stay by Big Bang
11. Out From Under by Britney Spears
12. Shattered Glass by Britney Spears
13. In the Club by 2ne1
14. Eat You Up by BoA (I have no idea how this is here.Did I really listen to it that much? lol)
15. Circus by Britney Spears
16. Paparazzi by Lady Gaga
17. Unusual You by Britney Spears
18. Te Busque by Nelly Furtado & Juanes
19. Love Game by Lady Gaga
20. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by Utada
21. I Can't Stay Away by The Veronicas
22. Bad Girl by Beast
23. Hometown Glory by Adele
24. Scared of Lonely by Beyonce
25. Kill The Lights by Britney Spears


Oh wow, Britney appears 5 times in my list. lol. I think that I went listening crazy when her Circus album came out and nothing has been able to top the amount of times I listened to it. lol. Another album I listened to a lot when it came out was Utada's "This is The One" album, so I'm not surprised that she shows up 3 times.

Song I'm Listening to At the Moment: "Cry" by Kelly Clarkson

A Present For Me? Socks! It's My Favorite!

First Published on December 8, 2009

I'm so happy. My debate students bought me a cute pen and a pair of striped socks. I guess my love of socks is widely known throughout the city of Miyazaki. lol.


I should just use this intro when I meet people:

Hi, my name is Stephanie. I'm a BIG LOVER of soups, sandwiches, coffee, trains, planes, boats, traveling, TV & socks. Yes, socks are awesome. It's nice to meet you. Yoroshiku Onigashimasu!


Song I'm Listening to At the Moment: "Raining" by FT Island

English Camp, Debate Finals & JLPT All Back to Back. Whoah!

First published on December 7, 2009


What a crazy 4 days I've had. It seemed like everything I was worried or worked hard for came together in one weekend.

First, let me start with the English Camp I went to.

On Thursday and Friday, I went to an English Camp hosted by one of the top academic schools in Miyazaki. My friend works there as an ALT, so he invited me and 9 other ALTs/ CIRs to work there on both days. The students are high level students in the humanities department of the high school. These are some of the best of the best from the prefecture.

The theme of this year's camp was living in an eco-friendly & sustainable country. The students did activities related to this theme. They even listened to a lecture in English done by a college professor from Miyazaki International College about the topic. It all came together on Friday with their final project, which was to present information on a country they were assigned to in school & give proposals on how to improve that country's sustainability. (Something like that. I have no idea how they did what they did). This was a project that they had been working on in school with the help of their English teachers, ALT, and some college students, so it was probably a relief for them that they were finally able to present their information and get it over with.

Each ALT was assigned to a group, which was divided up by the country presentations that they were working on. My group was the Ghana team. Although we were able to interact with all of the students, we mostly stayed within our group during the activities & meals. For example, on Thursday night, we helped our group create and put on an English Christmas skit revolving around a prop that was given to us. On Friday morning, we helped our group with last minute preparations for their presentation, which meant fixing grammar and pronunciation.

Although it was tiring, since we had to be with the students all the time from morning until night time, it was a really great experience. The students have to always speak English during camp and I was really surprised that most students always spoke English to each other the entire time. When they were finally able to speak Japanese at the end of camp, I still heard one student talk in English to his friend. My mouth dropped. It was really AMAZING!!!

The students were really excited about being there and it created a great mood for the camp.

All of the ALTs and CIRs that worked in the camp were super impressed by all of the students.

JLPT in Kagoshima & Debate Tournament Results

On Saturday, I had to take a train down to Kagoshima to take my JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). However, it was the same day as the Kyushu/Okinawa debate finals in Kumamoto. I wish I could have been in 2 places at once, but I decided that I should just go to Kagoshima early on Saturday, so that I wouldn't be super tired for the test on Sunday. Of course, I forgot to get the other coaches phone numbers, so I couldn't call them to know what was happening.

I had my thoughts on the debate competition, but I also knew that I had to get focused on the test. However, I knew that whatever I studied that day wouldn't make too much of a difference now. I would be cramming stuff, but it wouldn't be enough time to cram enough information in order to pass. I started regretting not taking more time to study, but since I was in Kagoshima already, I decided to make the best out of the experience.

Kim and I tried to study at night at a Joyful (IHOP type of restaurant), but we were already tired and we called it a night.

The next morning, we went really early to Kagoshima University, which is where we took the test. From there, we split up into our levels.

The test itself had many long breaks, which just made me lazier and sleepier. I would have liked shorter breaks, so that I could just get it done and be finished earlier. I don't think I did that well. However, at least now that I have been through it once, I know better what to expect and what I should focus on when I study for the next time I take it.

During the test's lunch break, I received a great call. One of my JTEs, who is also a debate coach, called me to tell me that my debate team had won 2nd place in the Kyushu/Okinawa debate finals. I was so excited. I almost started crying because I was so happy. I wish I had been in Kumamoto to see the reaction on my debate team's faces when they got 2nd place. It's so amazing. I don't think any of us expected it, but it was so wonderful to know that they had done so well after working so hard.

After the call, I got ready for the 3rd & final part of the test, grammar and reading comprehension. Yes, it's the scariest part of them all. lol

Once the test was finished, Kim and I got on a train back home. I was so happy to be home and relax after those crazy 4 days.

Song I'm Listening To At the Moment: "Man Man Ha Ni" by U-Kiss

Fukuoka Sumo Weekend

First published on November 26, 2009.

This past weekend, I went to watch a sumo match in the biggest city in Kyushu, Fukuoka.

My adventure started Saturday morning. A group of ALTs, including Kim, Asha, Lauren and myself, took a 7:45 AM bus from Miyazaki to Fukuoka. It takes about 4 hours to get to Fukuoka, so we couldn't wait to get up, stretch our legs and explore the city once we got there.

We first went to look for our hostel. After putting our stuff down, we went searching for Hard Rock Cafe. OK, I know how strange that sounds. Just remember that we have been in Japan for a long time, so we were craving things like huge hamburgers, steaks & mashed potatoes. Asha also really loves the Hard Rock, so that's why we went there. It was actually next to the Yahoo Dome and a mall. After lunch, we went shopping. A big part of our trip, besides sumo, was to go shopping in the big city. Living in Miyazaki, we rarely have the opportunity to go all out in super shopping sprees. Maybe that's a good thing. lol.

Anyway, after the mall, we went to look around the Tenjin area. I ended up buying cute gloves and a couple of things from Muji. When things started closing, we began walking around. There were Christmas decorations everywhere already. While we were crossing a random street, we saw this cool looking place. It was like the 3rd floor of a building, but the windows had writing on them and it just looked interesting. We went to see what it was. We were happily surprised when we found out that it was a Sri Lankan restaurant. None of us had ever had food from Sri Lanka, but the restaurant smelled really good. Actually, because of the spices in the air, everyone was coughing and sneezing. A couple of people put a napkin to their nose and mouth, so that they wouldn't cough as much. After awhile, I got use to it though.

We ordered curry noodles and a spicy rice thing with chicken (not exactly sure what it was). The food was really spicy and DELICIOUS. We enjoyed every bite.

When we finished, we had a bunch of bags, a full tummy and a decision to make. How were we going to meet up with the ALTs at a club called "Happy Cock"? Yes, "Happy Cock". I'm not kidding. It's an international club in the city where many foreigners go to party. We decided to just take the bags and then figure out where to put them when we got there. We knew that the club at lockers, but we didn't know how big they were.

It took us a long time to find the club. We basically walked in circles. The funny thing is that the club was only a couple of minutes walk from the Sri Lankan restaurant. We had to wait in line to get on the elevator that would take us to the club. The girls in front of us were stupid drunk. I was not happy. I was tired and I was not enjoying the behavior of the people, who were also waiting to get to the club. Kim and I wanted to go back to the hostel, but we decided to just go with Lauren and Asha. When we got up there, I was even more hesitant. The club was packed.

Anyway, we ended up going in. We could barely move in there. At one time, I was stuck for like 10 minutes. I couldn't walk forward, backwards or to the side. The people in back of me were trying to get to the bathroom, while the people in front of me were trying to get to the bar. NO ONE COULD MOVE. It was impossible. I got really, really scared. I started panicking. I kept thinking "What if a fight breaks out?" or "What if there is a fire?". There was a big guy to the side of me. Once he was able to move, I just followed the path he was making.

When I made it to the other side, I stayed next to a table that they had there. It was the area that I had the most room. I basically stayed there all night with Kim and Asha. Once in awhile, someone I knew would come and I would talk to them. The night wasn't completely horrible because I was able to talk to my friends, but I HATED that club so much. I even got groped by this random guy. He touched my chest while he asked where I was from. I was not amused.

By the time we got back to the hostel, it was almost 3 AM. We had decided on checking out at 8:30 AM, which didn't give us much time to sleep.

On Sunday morning, we checked out of the hostel, put our stuff in lockers at Hakata Station and waited for some of our ALT friends at Starbucks. We then went all together to the sumo match. We were there really early, so we got to see most of the matches, even the ones that were not considered that important. At 4 PM, the place suddenly filled up. All of the big matches occurred after 4 PM. It was really interesting to watch the matches. There are a lot of rituals involved. The matches themselves are really quick, but there are different rituals done in the beginning, such as throwing salt to purify the area in which they fight. It was definitely interesting. I'm really happy that I got to go.

At almost 6 PM, we went back to the station. Kim and I ate some udon. It was so different from the udon we were used to because instead of thick noodles, the noodles that they used were thin. We were really surprised. By 7 PM, we were on a bus back to Miyazaki.

All in all, Sumo Weekend in Fukuoka was a good experience.

To see pictures, you can go to my Flickr account.

Song I'm Listening to At the Moment: "Hearbreaker" by G-Dragon

Who watched the MAMAs (MNET Asiana Music Awards)?

First published on November 24, 2009.

I watched the MNET Asiana Music Awards (MAMA) last night. I wasn't really able to understand it, since it was in Korean, but I mostly watched it for the performances.

Here are my thoughts on the award show. A lot of it comes from a facebook conversation with a friend of mine.

MAMA was actually showing when I was away. I went to Fukuoka, which is a city like 4 hours away by car from me, to watch sumo. Sumo was really cool by the way.
Anyway, I did watch it yesterday when I got back. I fast forwarded a lot of parts because it was in Korean, which I wouldn't be able to understand anyway.

I did watch all of the performances and the acceptance of the awards that I liked.
My favorite performance, of course, was the Taeyang & G-Dragon performance. G-Dragon's "Heartbreaker" was awesome and he looked good. Taeyang was HOT! I love the song "Wedding Dress". I just think that his vocals suffer a bit in his performances because he dances so much. I love the dancing, but it makes him too tired to sing properly at times.
"Korean Dream" with both of them was great. G-Dragon is so amazing with the visuals in his performances. He definitely knows how to put on a good show.

I also really liked the new song by CL & Minzy from the girl group 2ne1. They are both fierce and I adored it. Their song was my favorite part of the 2ne1 performance.

It was sad to see 2 PM perform "Again & Again" without Jay, but I loved that they won Best Artist of the Year. I think that they have done really well this year and their album is good. I kind of wish that JYP wasn't in the middle of their "Heartbeat" performance. It was a bit distracting to have him wave his glowing wand around. OK, I know he was supposed to be the conductor, but it looked off.

I actually liked Brown Eyed Girls & Kara's dance mash-up. BEG are so freakin' cool. Those are ladies right there, not little girls. lol. I loved it.

Oh and my fav new rookie boy band is Beast. Their album is really good. Surprisingly good, actually. I thought I wasn't going to like them, but I really do. Their performance of "Lies" (originally by Big Bang) at the awards was pretty good.It wasn't even close to as great as Big Bang's performance of it and they even cut out TOP's part, but they danced it well and it wasn't that bad. I wish they had changed it up a bit or just done a song of their own. The leader hasn't been in the last 2 performances though. He wasn't even at the awards. That scared me a bit because he is one of my favs. I hope everything is alright.

Another thing that I loved about the night was that G-Dragon won album of the year because I LOVE THAT ALBUM.I even love the case it's in. Yes, I bought it just for the cool case. lol.

It was sad that SM Entertainment boycotted, but I kind of understand their point. It's horrible that this grudge was created and even worse for the artists.
I wasn't too sad though because all of my favorite artists were still there at the awards. (^_^)

Song Listening to at the Moment: "Tired of Waiting" by 2PM

Remaining Positive!

First published on November 17, 2009.

Catching up on my life.

On Saturday we had a play meeting. Every year, the JET community puts on a bilingual play in the city's International Center. Last year, we did Jack and the Beanstalk in English, but Monica played the Japanese narrator. This year we are mixing a lot of different languages, English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and some Portuguese. It's basically about a group of people who work at the International Center and they have to put on a talent show. However, the language barrier causes a lot of misunderstandings and funny scenarios. It's supposed to be mostly physical comedy . Kim and Matt were inspired by the play we watched in Korea, Nanta, and that's how they came up with this idea. I hope we can pull it off.

Anyway during the meeting, we found out that it was the birthday of one of the new ALTs. We all celebrated it at the Mexican restaurant. We were also surprised to learn that the restaurant was hosting a salsa night, so after dinner, we danced some salsa. It was so much fun. Wow Miyazaki has salsa nights. We might not be a well known prefecture and our city might be small, but we still have a lot of cool things happening here. lol.

I've also reduced my stress a bit this week.

The mid-year seminar is on Friday, but I think that Valerie, my presentation partner, and I will do fine. Valerie is awesome and made the worksheet. After seeing it written down, it doesn't look as scary as I first thought it was. I think we can pull it off. At least I remain positive.

I've been studying for the JLPT. That test is still worrying me because the more I study, the more I realize how much I don't know. Whenever I do practice tests, my high percentage of errors brings me down. However, I know that the only way to solve this is to just study harder. Can I pull this off? Probably not, but I will try. Time is ticking away and I still have to cram my brain with lots of vocabulary, kanji & grammar points. I usually have Japanese lessons on Mondays (1 hour a week) but next Monday is a holiday here, so I'm paying for an extra lesson, which will be held tomorrow. I NEED IT! lol.

Tomorrow is also the annual teacher's volleyball game at our school. Last year my team came in last, but it was a lot of fun. (^_^)

Today is Matt's birthday. We surprised him by sending him balloons to his school and the biggest one even played the birthday song when he tapped it. He seemed to enjoy his present. Yay!

This weekend, we are celebrating Matt and Yoshi's birthday on Friday, after the mid-year seminar. Then, Saturday morning, Kim, Asha, and I have to take a 7 AM bus to Fukuoka, which is the biggest city in the island of Kyushu. We are going there to watch a Sumo Tournament. I haven't seen sumo live, so I'm really excited. We also have really good seats. I think it will be a really interesting experience. I hope everything goes well. (^_-)

Music Listening to at the Moment: "Wedding Dress" by Taeyang

Disorganized, Busy & Nervous

First published on November 12, 2009.

First, let me begin with the good news. My debate team won 2nd place in the All Miyazaki Prefecture English Debate Competition. My students were a year younger than all of the other teams, but they did well. I was so proud of them. They definitely made me really happy yesterday. The top 2 teams will go to Kumamoto for the Kyushu & Okinawa Debate Competition. I think that the girls are really excited. The chance that they will win is very low. The winners tend to always be from Okinawa because there are so many native English speakers there. However, whatever happens, I think that it will be a good experience for them.

がんばって 南高校!

I would love to join my team, but I have the JLPT (Japanese Level Proficiency Test) the day after.
I can either go to support my team and then take a night bus to the city that I have to take the test at or I don't go, which would allow me to do last minute studying and much needed resting before the test. Hmmm...I have to wait for the letter that tells me where to go for the test because it can be either Oita, Fukuoka, or Kagoshima. Then, I'll figure something out.


Ok, so I mentioned the JLPT. Ahhhh...I think I will fail badly. I've been leaving work late because of debate practice, so I have little to no energy by the time I get home. This has effected my studying. I have to find a way to balance my studying & stay focused while also doing everything else that needs to get done by the end of this month. November is such a hectic time in school.

Oh and have I mentioned that I have an English camp right before the debate competition & JLPT. Oh dear...I can see my bad JLPT scores now. The English camp is on December 3 & 4, the debate competition is on the 5th, and the JLPT is on the 6th. I'm a bit worried.

Next week, I also have the ALT Mid-Year Seminar. This year I have to present. Yesterday I got my topic "classroom management" and I have to present with another ALT who lives pretty far from me. Well, we have about a week to get our ideas in order, create a worksheet & put on a good presentation for the 1st year ALTs. I'm a bit nervous about this as well. The topic is a bit difficult for me and it's always hard to present in front of your peers. Sigh! I'll do my best.

So, anyway...long story short, I'm just a bit stressed lately. I have to calm down, focus and get everything I need to do in order.

Music Listening to at the Moment- G-Dragon (feat. Kush)- "She's Gone"

Face-Palm- Oh Duhhhhh!

Oops, dummy me. I've been posting my journals on my livejournal account and I have forgotten to post them here. There will probably be a bunch of posts that I will do now to become updated. Sorry for the confusion.