Mystery Trip & News of The Day

I have so much to do today, which includes semi-cleaning my apartment and packing. Yes, you read right - PACKING. I'm going on a trip. YAY!  It was all last minute. I took a couple of days off,  bought train & flight tickets and booked a hostel. Where am I going? Well, I'm going..... It's a secret. lol  Yes, I will be mysterious today (^_-) . ::Does BEAST's head move dance  to "Mystery, Mystery"::

Check in again to find out where I went.  Dun, Dun, Dun...


Anyway, I will give you some details. I'm going on the over night train from Miyazaki to Fukuoka. I'm in an "Only Female" carriage on the train. Cool, right? Then, I will catch the plane tomorrow in Fukuoka. I'm a bit nervous. I'm always a bit stressed when I travel alone.


Anyway, back to present. Today it's been so humid. The humidity hit out of nowhere. Everything is so wet. Even the floors and walls of the school are wet. The floor is a bit slippery to walk on and when I leaned against a wall, my bum got wet. Not a pretty sight.

I've also been giving interview tests today. I've had 2 this morning and I have 1 more this afternoon. Poor kids have been so nervous. I try to make them more at ease by giving them a smile and a cheerful "Hello!", but a test is a test, so they are freakin out on me. 

Generally, they have been doing well, so I'm happy.


Oh and today a local tv channel is going to film my English Debate Club doing a mock practice/ debate because they did so well this year. They got 2nd place in the Kyushu/ Okinawa Finals, which is a pretty big deal. I'm so proud of them. However, that means I have to stay later after school. I also kind of look like a mess. I really should wake up when my alarm clock tells me to wake up, so that I have more time to prepare myself calmly. Oh, I do like my sleep.


Last but not least, I just want to express my love for the group 2 AM. I'm so happy that they won a Mutizen. They totally deserve it. Their new single "I Can't  Let You Go Even If I Die" is so beautiful and well song. Watching them win was "WOW".  Keep on being amazing boys.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will be about my vacation.

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

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"

Tokyo/Saitama Adventures: Concert, Shopping & Hanging Out

Today I will be posting about my Tokyo/ Saitama trip that I took last week.

First, let me rewind a bit. On Friday (the 9th), my friends and I went out to dinner and then we went to a karaoke bar. It was me, Asha, Matt, Kim, Alex and Sarah. We had a great time. First, we ate super delicious food. Then, we sang our lungs out in a smokey karaoke bar. What else could we have asked for?

Anyway, by Sunday, 4 of us were really sick. I was having problems with my asthma and I felt feverish. Asha, Alex and Sarah were throwing up and having flu symptoms. I went to the doctor on Monday with Paul and found out that I had bronchitis. My other 3 friends had swine flu. Whoah!

I felt really sick on Monday, but I had tickets for a Mariza concert in Tokyo on Wednesday. I was really worried that I wouldn't feel better on time. However, I did feel better on Wednesday morning (the 14th), although not fully recovered. I rushed to the airport to catch my plane from Miyazaki to Tokyo. I arrived there right when they were boarding. Close Call!

Once I got to Haneda Airport, I had to take a bus and a train to Saitama, where my friends, Monica and Eric, live. It is also the place that I stayed at while I was there. Monica and Eric used to be my neighbors last year. They were Miyazaki ALTs, but now Eric is studying in Tokyo. Basically, Saitama is to Tokyo what New Jersey is to NYC. It's where many families live although a lot of its residents travel daily for jobs, shopping, entertainment, etc to Tokyo.

Anyway, by the time I arrived in Saitama, it was midday. Eric, Monica and I hung out a bit in their house and ate lunch. Then, Monica and I got ready to go to the Mariza concert. Mariza is a Portuguese fado singer. We were in the third row, so we were super close to her. The concert was AMAZING!!! The audience was mostly older Japanese people, but there were also people from all over the world. At one point, she asked where people were from. There were Portuguese people, of course, but there were also people from Russia, China, Italy, Iran, Mozambique, Angola, Sweden, etc. At one point, I grabbed Monica's hand and raised it and said "America". She came to us and asked us where we were from in the States. I said Jersey and Monica said California. Then, she talked about how she was going to Jersey for a concert next month. I was just super excited that she talked to me during her concert. SOOOO COOOOL!!!

I think that I used up too much of my energy on Wednesday night. On Thursday, Monica and I were tired and I still wasn't fully recovered from my bronchitis. We just ended up hanging out in her house, watching Nana (both the movie & anime) and just catching up on what had been going on in our lives lately.

On Friday, we met up with Eric at school. Eric is in grad school at Keio University, so he showed me around the university. It's beautiful. Then, we went to Tokyo Tower, which is nearby. When we got up to the observation deck, we were able to see great views of Tokyo from all sides.

Tokyo Tower

View from the Tower

There were also lookout windows on the floor. Scary! I was the one on the bottom that barely had her feet on the window. It was too scary for me. lol. Monica was rocking her moon boots though (^_-)
.

On Saturday, Monica and I went to Harajuku to do some shopping. I went to Harajuku the last time I was in Saitama when I was helping Eric and Monica move and I really like it there. Our goal was to go to H&M & Forever 21 (I haven't been to a Forever 21 since I left the States and I haven't been to an H&M since I went to Hong Kong last May) , but somehow, we kept getting distracting by all of the cute stores on our way there. I bought tons of things. I bought a black hat for the winter. It was my second one that I bought that day because I bought a pink one in Saitama before getting on the train. I also bought hair accessories, 2 skirts (1 skirt was kind of tutu like), scarf, boots, and cute socks. My goal was to buy a winter coat, but I didn't find any that I really liked. I wish I could have bought a super cute lolita outfit, but they are really expensive. Monica had to leave to go to a farewell party for a friend, so poor Eric, who had met up with us, had to follow me around while I went from store to store. lol.
Anther highlight, I ate Wendys. Why is Wendys a highlight? Well, Miyazaki doesn't have any, so I hadn't had Wendys since I left the States, which was over a year ago. It was mighty delicious, but they had no baked potatoes. I really wanted one.


On Sunday, I decided to do some more shopping/ sightseeing before catching a train to the airport. Monica and I went to Akihabara because I wanted some cute headphones. Akihabara is like a men's world. It's full of electronics stores & stores that have anime products. Because of this, there are tons of guys all over the place. At one point, we were crossing a busy intersection and it was like a sea of men walking our way from the opposite side. Do I exaggerate? I don't think so.

Akihabara also has a lot of maid cafes, so there are girls in cute maid costumes passing out flyers for the cafes that they work at. I would have loved to go to one just to check it out. It must be really cute, but we didn't really have that much time. In Akihabara, I did find cute, pink headphones for cheap and a nice keyboard for my laptop. Woohoo!!!

Since we had a little bit of time left, I decided to go to Ginza to buy some shoes that I saw at the Muji store on the first day I arrived in Tokyo. ( We were window shopping before the concert. )

Shopping in Harajuku

Akihabara
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I had fun on my trip and I bought a lot of goodies.
It was hard to leave Eric and Monica again. They are such cool people. I miss them being my neighbors. Although I think I was at their apartment way too often when they lived in Miyazaki. lol.

I want to go to Tokyo again in the future. Actually, I wouldn't mind just living there for a year. How cool would that be? (^_^)

Silver Week 2009 Trip - Kansai Region- "for the culture & the boys"

Last month during Silver Week, September 19th to the 23rd, Asha and I took a trip to the Kansai region of Japan. We stayed in a hostel, J-Hoppers, in Osaka the whole time, but we took trains to visit Kyoto and Nara as well. The trip was a lot of fun.

We took a plane from Miyazaki to Osaka on Saturday evening. When we arrived at Osaka, we had to figure out a way to get to the hostel. Of course we ended up getting a little bit lost. One of the directions that the hostel gave us was to turn and walk down the colorful street. By the time we arrived in Osaka, it was already dark, so the street wasn't really all that colorful. lol. We had no idea why the hostel had written that on their website until we walked down the street in the morning and realized that it indeed was colorful. lol.

Since we arrived late, we had to look for a restaurant that was still open. This was a challenge because a lot of them were closed or were closing. Then, we happened to find a Brazilian lounge with food. This made me super happy because I hadn't had any Brazilian food in so long. It was also really cool to hear a mixture of Portuguese and Japanese. Most of the people there were either Brazilian immigrants or children of immigrants, so they would mix both languages when they were talking. It was really cool. It was also nice to finally understand what people were saying around me. lol. (^_^)

The rest of the time we were there, we mostly tried to go to different temples in Kyoto. For example, we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine, Sanjusangen-do Temple and Kiyomizu-dera Temple. We also went to Gion where we ran into a Maiko (apprentice geisha) and we went to a flee market in To-Ji Temple. Kyoto is really an amazing place. I recommend it to anyone who is traveling to Japan.

On the last day we were in Kansai, we went to Nara. We went to Todai-ji Temple. The temple is known for having a huge bronze statue of Buddha. It was an amazing site. SInce it was our last day, we still tried to make it to Kyoto for one last temple, Kinkaku-Ji, but it was already closed when we got there. Oopppss! I guess if we ever have a chance to go back to Kyoto in the future, that temple has to be on the top of our list of things to see.

Throughout the trip we had certain quotes that both of us said a lot. For example, Asha would usually say "I'm here for the culture and the boys" and she was right. lol. We saw a lot of cute boys. I fell in love with a waiter in Osaka. He was GORGEOUS, but if you ask Asha about him, she will say "Uhhh...no I don't think so. He was not cute". lol. I thought he was soooo cute!
I also had a crush on the "Information Desk" worker at the Osaka train station. Yes, we took the trip "for the culture and the boys".

Then, there were the boys that we didn't want around us. In one of the trains from Tokyo to Osaka, there were a group of young guys sitting across from us, who were super obnoxious. They were trying to figure out what to say to us in English. Of course, the only thing they seemed to know and thought was appropriate to say to us was "Sex Friend? I like sex" and "I have penis", except they pronounced it as "penes". We ended up leaving the train and catching another one.

The quote that I kept saying on our trip was "Let's see what happens". A lot of times, we didn't exactly know how to get to certain places and we weren't sure what people were telling us, but I would just say "Let's see what happens" and hope that the train and/or bus would get us to the right destination. It worked, for the most part. We did get lost a couple of times, but it was mostly OK.

We did have other weird moments in Kyoto that had nothing to do with the opposite sex or our bad sense of direction. Once, we were on a train from Osaka to Kyoto. Half way there, everyone was told to get off of the train. All of us had to then wait on the track for another train. We have no idea what happened.

This happened to us again, but on a bus. We were on a bus going to Kyoto Station. The bus was full. At one stop, this guy, who seemed to have special needs, put his hands to his head and ran to the front of the bus and got off. Two older people followed after him. When this happened, the bus driver decided to kick all of us off the bus. Asha and I had already commented on how stressed the bus driver looked, so it was both a surprise and yet not shocking when he told all of us to get off. lol.

All in all, it was a great trip. Osaka is a typical busy city & Kyoto and Nara are beautiful. There are so many more things that I would like to see, but I didn't have the chance to, so I would definitely like to go back.

This is me at Fushimi Inari Shrine

This is the Maiko (apprentice Geisha) we saw in Gion. Asha took this picture.

This is me at Kyoto Station.



For more pictures of my trip to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara you can go to my Flickr Silver Week Album:
www.flickr.com/photos/stefy29/sets/72157622438285894/

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"

Potty Trained: What is that Noise?

Today I thought that maybe I should talk about the toilet experience here in Japan from a woman's perspective. No, don't run away yet. I'm not going to be gross. I'm just going to talk about the awkward noises that we make when we urinate. Yes, urinate. You read it right. Here in Japan, many women are embarrassed by the noise they make when they urinate. When females go to a public bathroom, it is normal to hear women flushing the toilet as they are urinating, so that people can't hear the noise. Because this practice consumes so much water, many toilets are equipped with a button that you can press that will make the flushing noise without actually flushing. Sometimes, it even makes other noises, such as birds chirping.

I know that this sounds strange to a foreigner's perspective. Believe me, when I first arrived in Japan, I had no idea why any woman would be embarrassed by the sound of their own urine. I mean if they were doing anything else that must be done in a bathroom, then maybe I could understand. However, why urinating?

Because I didn't want to stand out, I started flushing at school while I was urinating (oh what a waste of water) and pressing the noise button when I was in a public restroom. When you are a foreigner, you already stand out so much that you do anything to stand out less.

Anyway, after being here for 10 months, I have realized that I have fallen into the same embarrassment trap. It's still about fitting in, but to a big degree, I'm also getting really self-conscious about the noise too. I don't know when this happened. I just know that recently I went to a public restroom with a friend. It was only me and this other foreigner. I made myself not flush because what was the point. It was not like there was a Japanese woman to hear me. However, the whole time I was urinating, I was so self conscious about the sound, how loud it was and how strange it was that my friend could hear me. I have fallen into the same mind set that I would have joked about a year ago.

I truly believe that we can't understand something in another culture until we put ourselves into that culture. Sometimes, even when we do that, it's still difficult because we have not lived in it our entire lives and we have our own culture in the back of our minds. However, at least it makes it a bit easier to understand the people of that culture and why they do the things that they do.

The Art of Karaoke

Before coming to Japan, I had never done karaoke in my life. That changed really quick since i got here. Karaoke is a great destresser and just a fun way to spend time with your friends. However, I also learned that there are rules to karaoke. Rules that I haven't been able to master since I've been here. No, it's not only singing into a mic. Karaoke is an art. If you are with a group of foreigners, we just end up singing all together. Put on a Queen song or heck Whitney's "Dance With Somebody" and everyone is up on their feet and singing as loud as they can, in not so perfect unison.

I learned that Japanese people do not do this. Oh no! Each person gets a verse, lines, chorus, whatever. Somehow, everyone knows when to sing and when to let the other person sing. If it's a huge group, it is not uncommon to see them pass the mic down so that everyone can get a chance to sing individually.

I witnessed these unspoken rules again this weekend when my friends and I went to a karaoke bar. We were 3 Americans, 1 Trinidadian, and 2 Japanese (1 we had just met that morning at the beach but that's a whole other story). Anyway, when we chose a song (Akon "Right Now Na Na Na"), we all sang out the lyrics so that even the bar down the hall could hear us. Oh boy, what a scene. Our 2 Japanese friends did not say anything, but they sure showed us how it was done.

Let me just remind you that one of them we met that morning, so those two had never actually talked until that night. Anyway, they agreed on a song (Exile of course) and then started singing. One would sing one verse, another would sing another, they would sing the chorus in perfect unison and well, it was karaoke magic. They later did a Japanese hip-hop song with the same ease and perfection. I was thoroughly impressed. Of course, us foreigners had to ruin it by singing out Whitney Houston to the dismay of everyone's ears.

ALTs have to go through so many different orientation workshops. Most of them are useless and quite truthfully, I don't remember 95 percent of what I was told. However, someone should do a karaoke orientation. It could fall under the topic Life in Japan. We should really learn so that we could stop embarrassing ourselves. lol.

Music Listening To At The Moment: Utada "Apple & Cinnamon"

If Only I was a Lesson Plan Whiz

Before going on vacation (Oh yeah I went on vacation which I'll write more about later) I made a lesson plan for this week. I tried to simplify, simplify and simplify it more, but it still seemed difficult. I decided to try it out today with the first class, who are considered an advanced class. Of course, they didn't really understand it. The teacher that I team taught with said she would take a look at it and figure out how she can make it more simple because she realized that I didn't know how to dumb it down anymore. She has so much work already, so I felt bad accepting her help, but I really didn't know what to do with it anymore. The other ALT that comes to this school on Mondays is going to do the same lesson next period and I'm a bit nervous about how it's going to go.

Yay for Indoor Sneakers

I'm grateful for bringing my indoor sneakers today. The Opening Ceremony, which is when the students get to meet the new teachers and find out who will be teaching them, was today. That meant that everyone had to go to the gym. If I hadn't brought in my indoor sneakers, everyone would see my frog toe socks. Talk about not making a good impression. lol.

One more thing

I am also grateful for the teachers who just transferred in. They are still cleaning their hearts out and they cleaned 90 percent or more than I did. Making a good impression is difficult. I don't really remember what I did 8 months ago. Since it was summer, I was usually one of the only people in the office. I should be grateful for that to. I didn't really know how to act to make a good impression in the teacher's office and I don't think I even know now.

And the Things I'm Most Grateful For Are...

Things that I am grateful for this morning.

First:

My new supervisor is awesome. He actually tells me what is going on. After the staff meeting, which of course I didn't understand a word, he went up to me and said this is going on first period and this is where the teachers are going 2nd period. That's amazing. I don't think people realize here that just simply giving basic information to the ALT (for instance in 2nd period everyone is going to the gym) it makes the ALT much happier and much more pleasant to work with.

This morning, my supervisor was also teaching me how to answer the phone and what to say on the phone. Ahhhhhh!!!! That is really great of him and it shows that he actually believes me to be an actual person in the office, instead of a thing in a bubble. lol. However, how can I tell him that I'm afraid of phones? (I blame it on previous jobs lol) I'm especially afraid of phones in a Japanese office. I might say the wrong thing, not understand or be impolite. Oh dear!

Well he is taking the time to teach me so I should pick up a phone a couple of times, as I shake with horror and embarrassment. lol. The first couple of times are always the hardest for everything I guess.

Second Thing I'm grateful for:

There is a cleaning time first period. Ok, so I usually hate cleaning times. However, the kids have been gone for Spring Break, so no cleaning has been happening. Let's just say that the trash has been piling up. It's reaching dangerous heights (ok I'm exaggerating again). Anyway, the trash needs to be put out and I am thankful for these high school kids and their cleaning ways. Thank You! Arigatou!

Dancing Chairs: School Stuff 101

Since the teachers all know what they will be teaching starting on the 20th, they now have switched their desks, in order to be close to other teachers in their grade. They usually don't switch the ALT desk, so I'm fine. However, there is another ALT who comes her one day a week. The desk in front of me was used by any guest ALTS until now. However, now they put a Japanese (Japanese language) teacher in front of me and moved the other ALT to the other side of the room. I like how everyone was waiting for the ALTS to be mad at this, but we don't really care. I'm actually excited by the move. The Japanese teacher is young (probably around my age) and although her English isn't great, she isn't scared to talk to me. We usually don't understand each other, but the English teachers that sit to my left tend to help us out. She also asks a lot of questions like "How do you say this in English?". She told me that she wanted to improve her English and I told her that I wanted to improve my Japanese.
I think I kind of hurt her feelings today though because I finally finished my Japanese assignment for tomorrow's lesson with Maki, which was to write about my day in Japanese. She noticed that I was doing Japanese homework and told me that she would check it over. However, my Japanese is soooo bad that I didn't want her to see the disaster that is my paper. Although she insisted, I said no. lol. Maybe one day when I am more confident I will let her look over my stuff before class.

Let me back track now. The day of the desk switch, my new supervisor said "I'm sorry, I know that you will miss the ALT sitting next to you (as if she was going far away)". I said that it was Fine. He was like "Really?". lol. I don't know why he was so surprised.

Then today another English teacher told me to inform the other ALT that her desk had been moved, so that she wouldn't be surprised when she arrived on Monday. I told her that I had contacted her already and I believed it would be better for the other ALT anyway because she wanted to improve her Japanese and this would help her. That English teacher was really surprised about my reaction as well.

Did they think that we would get angry and start complaning to the principal or something? lol.

Anyway, today I had to do the lesson plan for the introduction class for OC1. SInce I have been doing mostly grammar classes until now, I have been a bit nervous about these new classes, but excited as well. I had to do my lesson plan and worksheet a million times (ok maybe I'm exaggerating) until it finally got a thumbs up by one of the teachers. I was happy though because my last draft was much better than my first. After I finished, I gave a copy to all the teachers who will be working with me on OC1 because they will have a meeting about the lesson on the 7th of April. Here is hoping that they like it.

I also have a 3rd year OC class with a new teacher that was just transferred in. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that class. Oh boy! The only advantage I have is that I know those students because they were in my 2nd year class.

It's 4:30 PM on a Friday. What am I still doing at school? Let me go home. :)