My Weekend

I think I measure my time here by my weekends. It's Monday and I'm already thinking about what I will do this weekend. I go out on weekdays as well, but I really look forward to my weekends. I'm sure you've all noticed, as most are my posts are recaps of what I did last weekend. So here is what you've been waiting for:

This past weekend was pretty nice and relaxing. On Friday, a big group of us went out to dinner at Darjeeling (Indian restaurant)...no, no...Darjeeling is NOT the translation of "Indian restaurant" in Japanese...it is the name of the Indian restaurant we went to. It was nice to see everyone, as we are all busy with our own schedules and don't get to meet up as often now. We were BY FAR the noisiest people there, as we could barely hear each other speak. Anyway, my Ota peeps were sweet and gave me my bday present that night...a gigantic-sized Chip 'N' Dale stuffed animal. Chip 'N' Dale are siamese...at least these ones are. When I showed my sis a pix of what I got for my bday, the first thing she said was, "How the heck are you gonna bring them back?!" Heck if I know. All I know is that they're looking mighty cute in my living room right now. Thanks, guys! I love it! Too bad I can't showcase them on my desk at school. It would literally take up my ENTIRE desk. It's either Chip 'N' Dale, or my laptop. Um, I don't think staring at them would entertain me as much as surfing the web. Oh well.

Jeff, Ann, and I decided we'd walk to the train station, considering we probably drank 2 gallons of oil that night. It was a nice walk. Nice to see all the hostess bars in action. Ann stayed over at my place and we just chatted and attempted to watch some Gilmore Girls. We weren't very successful though b/c I had been up since 3:30am that morning and was dead tired. Yes, fell asleep early the night before and had to wake up at 3:30am to plan Christams lessons for my elementary school. I was instructed to do this the day before. Nice. I sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" (Disney version), "Jingle Bells" (Orchestra version), and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (Partridge family version) with my 6nensei earlier in the day. Actually, NOT with, just by myself...singing by myself b/c the kids can't read English. Yes, I felt bad for them as they had to listen to me sing...then with the Partridge family. Um, yes. Sad Christmas, indeed.

Anyway, Ann and I are both VERY sensitive to the cold, as we both lived in Southern California for some time. Thus, the heater was on full blast that night. The next day, we trained to Ota and cabbed to Basic, a hair salon that Emily had recommended. First, we had a "counseling" session with our hair stylists, both of whom were men...they were recommended to us as well. Soo many of the hair stylists in this country are men...it's kinda cool I think. Anyway, the Japanese care about their hair A LOT, as our "counseling" session seemed to take forever. Ann and I were just like, "Um, can you just do something to it?" We even had to fill out a questionnaire about our hair. Very interesting.

Then the process began. If you ever want a head massage, look no farther than a Japanese hair salon. The experience is AMAZING. Like Ann said, "You can never go back." My guy spent a good amount of time cutting my hair and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. I like that. I've been to enough hair stylists in my time to be able to spot if someone knows what they're doing...you just know. Anyway, after the haircut, he proceeded to do the highlights. (That's the only strange part...since I think you are supposed to do the highlights, THEN cut the hair. Oh well.) After the highlights came the wash. Omg...they literally wash your hair for like 10 minutes...it felt SO DAMN GOOD! So good in fact, that I fell asleep as the lady was washing and massaging my scalp. It really was AMAZING...if any of you come to visit me, we should go do your hair! Might I add that the service is spectacular. I literally had like 3 people working on my hair at one point. Crazyness. After the wash, one of the girls gave me a head and neck massage! At the end of my 2 1/2 hour experience, I felt totally content and relaxed. Ann was a satisfied customer as well. Her haircut, by the way, is awesome! She won't be able to deny that she's officially Japanese now...hehe. Anyway, it looks great on her! It's sad that tipping is not customary in this country, as I've tipped many a hair stylists that didn't deserve half of what these people do. So yes, there's my first Japanese hair salon experience in a nutshell. Thanks soo much Em, for recommending this place!

That night was the last last night of Grow Up, a place that we are all sad to see close. There will never be another place like Grow Up...the owners, the food, the ambiance...it is great. It was also Minako's bday that day, and I'm happy that we got a chance to celebrate with her. =) Since Friday night was actually the last night of business, all the food was gone so it was potluck style. We had a little of everything. It was just nice to sit and chat with friends one last time in this place we all love. I wish the owners good luck in their upcoming adventures in Tennessee!

Thoughts of the day:

I ate lunch with my 3nensei today for the first time. It was cool b/c they actually understood most of what I was saying! Cools. One of the first questions they asked me was, "Shindy, do you have a boyfriend?" In Singapore, the Singaporeans would ask me, "Are you attached?" In Hong Kong, my relatives would ask, "Ne yau mo nan peng yau?" (Do you have a boyfriend?) So yeah, what's up with Asians and their need to know if I have a boyfriend within the first five seconds of talking to me. Interesting indeed.

I stopped by Class 3B to give a dictation quiz today. The teacher passed back another test they had taken and the average score on the test was 53.6....out of 100! You would think the students would be sad but they were actually happy, because the average in Class 3C was only 51.5. Hmm...I hope Ms. Hashiba grades on a curve!

I told my teachers I would stay after from 3 to 5pm every Monday to help the kids with English. I needed a room and Ms. Hashiba gave me a key....to a storage room! Well, maybe not a storage room, but I did spend a good amount of time cleaning everything as it looked like nobody had been in there for awhile. No one showed. Sad! I had a couple of kids show up but they were just being nice, because I asked them if they needed help with English and they said no. Next week, I will bring a movie, blast some Kelly, and surf the web w/ the school's wireless laptop, yo! So yeah, hope some kids start showing up next week, or else it'll be a one woman party. Oh well, I'll entertain myself somehow.

Nose Picking Central

On Thursday, I had my "once a year" visit to kindergarten. I'm not joking. Poor kids, only get to see me once a year. How sad for them. Hey! Don't laugh! They're missing out when I'm not there to boss them around! Anyway, I got there at 8:30am and was greeted by some cult members, I mean teachers. I swear it's a cult, but what do I know. They were all dressed in these yellow moo moos sweeping and such before the kids arrived. The kindergarten itself is much much nicer than both my elementary and jr. high school. I'm sure the cult has its membership fees to support the brain-washing. After the first miniature-sized school bus arrived, both the teachers and the students faced the shrine and bowed to whatever was inside. I had no idea what was going on.

Anyway, I played dodgeball with them for awhile, then I went inside the classroom with the kids and the teacher. The teacher said something, then left. I didn't know what I was supposed to do with a room full of 5 and 6 year olds. Um...teach? I guess so. I thought I wasn't supposed to start until a later time, but whatevers. So I pulled out my picture cards and started to teach them different animals and the sounds they make. Fun. Singing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" to yourself is a lot of fun. Anyway, 5 minutes into it, a kid runs back and says something, and the whole class just got up and left. Hmm. I just followed to kids to see what was going on. It turns out they were going to practice a skit...the teacher that had left earlier was there too. I guess she was just preparing the room earlier? I dunno. After the skit, we went back to the classroom...this time the teacher was present...and I finally got to continue teaching. I taught for a bit, sang some songs, and played a game with the kids. I think the game was their favorite part, even the teacher's. The teachers at this kindergarten are EXCELLENT with the kids. They never speak in louder than a whisper, yet they are able to get all the kids to cooperate. It's like they're always in character (the teachers, that is)...I dunno how to explain it...you had to be there. I sorta felt outta place since I am SO loud in comparison.

I had lunch with the kids. They were soo cute! Omigosh...I literally wanted to steal one of 'em and take them home with me. Seriously, that cute. At the beginning of lunch, they all said something and thanked their parents for their delicious meals...in unison. So sweet. Anyway, near the end of lunch, the teacher started playing the piano and the kids started to sing while brushing their teeth. Yes, indeed, this is Japan...a place where kids start brushing their teeth after each meal at the age of 5...yet somehow still end up with no-so-pretty teeth later on. Sad.

After lunch, the kids went to another room and joined some other kindergarteners to practice a song. Some of the kindergarteners in the school were as young as 3 years old! Crazyness. Anyway, there were 3 classes present and one of the teachers (the one I taught with), played the piano, while the other two guided the kids through the song. I filmed the entire thing on my camera. The song is literally 2 and a half minutes long and the kids memorized ALL the lyrics. Amazing. I still say Japanese kids are given a LOT more responsibilities than ones back at home...not that one is more capable than the other...just that Japanese kids are challenged a bit more? I dunno.

It was one of the kids' birthdays that day so the teacher and the students sang happy birthday to him and he got a present and a birthday book from the teacher. It was so cute. You could tell that he was SO happy. Filmed this as well.

At the end of the day, all the kids went outside and lined up in front of their teachers. The parents were waiting on the side, waiting to pick them up. Some things were said over the PA, and then the teachers all lined up behind the students, thus leaving me facing EVERYONE by myself. They announced who I was and then all the teachers and students bowed and thanked me. Damn, I really felt like someone important right then. Geez, I should really go to kindergarten more often.

Thanksgiving Dinner, and then some...

On Tuesday night, Jeff and I trained to Maebashi for some Thanksgiving grub with 50 something other JETs. Oh yes, we do miss our turkey. Maybe it was the thought of Thanksgiving dinner that made us become the anti-social jerks we were that night, since we were the rudest people EVER. We actually made someone leave our table by ignoring them and not even introducing ourselves. We talked about it afterwards and agreed that we are usually the "nice" people, starting conversations with the new people and such. What happened to us that night? We don't know. However, it all worked out in the end b/c we had a great table with great company.

The food was amazing. We had turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mash potatoes, stuffing, salad, veggies, rolls, bread pudding, and pumpkin pie. Mmm mmm! My favorite were the cranberry sauce and the bread pudding. Oishiiyo! The pumpkin pie tasted more like sweet potato pie but it was still good, in a Japanesey sorta way...if that even makes any sense. Anyway, it was well worth the 3500 yen we paid! Let's Thanksgiving Dinner-ing more often!

Jeff and I were way too tired to join the others for karaoke so we, along with Kristine, burned off our calories (or 1/100th of it) by walking to the station. I'm glad we walked. I fell into a food coma as soon as I got home.

The next day, Jeff, Ann, and I trained to Ashikaga to do some omiyage (souvenir) shopping. Many of the shops were closed so we were unsuccessful in our purchases. So where did we go instead?? AEON, of course. I seriously don't know what I would do w/o AEON. It's the best thing to happen to Ota since...um...since...um...trains??

Jeff and I decided we had a craving for McDonald's so we each ordered a meal and chicken mcnuggets. Bad idea. Living in this country really makes you sensitive to the greasy-as food that is served back home. We felt so gross afterwards. Anyway, we decided to watch Elizabethtown. For what reason? Mainly Orlando Bloom and Cameron Crowe since we both hate Kirsten Dunst. Hmm...hate seems so harsh. Okay, so we definitely dislike her...to an extreme. Her facial expressions really bug me and she really isn't that great of an actress, ESPECIALLY in this movie, so yeah. If I were Ebert, I'd give this movie a "thumbs down." It's trying to be too many things it isn't. Don't waste your $.

Thought of the day:

Only in Japan. This is old news but I never posted about it. The cop that almost gave me a bike ticket showed up at my door a couple of weeks ago. At first I didn't realize it was him, but I looked closer and thank goodness I remembered. I quickly had to play dumb again and pretend I didn't understand anything, not that I understand much to begin with. So yeah, apparently, he was making his rounds just to take down everyone's info and give us a number to call in case anything happens...like if your bike mysteriously leaves the train station and is parked outside your apt?? Hmm...I wonder.

Quarter Life Crisis

So Saturday was the day of the Ashikaga Wine Festival and it was my birthday as well. I hit a quarter of a century on Saturday. Wow, I'm ancient in JET years. Every JET in Gunma had been waiting for this day for months...not my birthday, the wine festival, silly! The wine festival is a day when you pay only $15 as an entrance fee to the winery and you get a bottle of wine, a wine glass, and a cork screw. OR, if you are allergic to alcohol, as I am, you could get a bottle of grape juice, the glass, a cork screw (not needed in this case, but nice), and seedless raisin clusters? Anyhoo, that's what I got. Damn me and my Asian genes. Ugh! No worries, I'm not hating on my Asian self...as I usually do. Because I knew I couldn't really drink at the festival, I decided to make special brownies the night before. It was my first time...this is my excuse by the way...since they didn't freakin' work! Haha. So instead, I decided to pass around the brownies to everyone. That's right...everyone. If anyone had a drug test for work or parole or anything, sorry. Regardless, I had an awesome time at the festival. It was just SO nice to be able to sit and talk and relax with my friends. I enjoyed the spectacle that followed as well, as the hill we were sitting on was VERY steep and people were VERY drunk. Anyway, I got some presents and a cake from Mami and Minako. Thanks, girls! The cake, actually a giant fruit tart, was soooo good! I'm telling you people, the Japanese know how to make their desserts.

After we made our last bus out of the wine festival, we headed to Ota for my birthday dinner. This was very last minute, by the way, as everyone knew they'd be super drunk and had already decided another day would be better...plus...it was right before payday and everyone is scrounging on those last few days...I know I always am! Anyway, my dear Ota buddies decided to have a bday dinner for me. Sweeto! Many people came from all over Gunma, far and wide, to attend this dinner. Again, Gunma JETs were NOT waiting for months in anticipation for my birthday. I know, I know...hard to believe, right? Sad. So yeah, we headed to Olivia's? Italian Restaurant for dinner. It was yummy! For less than $5, you get to choose 2...that's right..2 desserts! Though they may be small, they are gooood! Ok, so moving on...

After dinner (thanks to all of you who attended!), a group of us headed to the top of Gen for some karaoke. It has been way too long since our last karaoke session. However, I doubt the mic missed me much. We all sang our hearts out and had even more to drink...well, some of us did. At the end of the night, everyone was dead tired, but I think all of us had an awesome time. A long and fun day, indeed! The day after, I heard that many many people had the worst hangovers in history. For that reason, maybe it was a good idea I didn't get the wine...I would've gotten sick for sure. Sad! Again, thank you ALL for celebrating my quarter life crisis with me! It really ain't that bad when you have your friends right there with you! I am a lucky gal...

Thoughts of the day:

As you may have noticed, I finally got around to posting pictures on my blog! I took a laziness break (not a break to be lazy but a break from BEING lazy...which is all the time) and decided to go through my entire blog to post pictures from past entries. So if you are bored as I was yesterday, please feel free to scroll down and look at my pictures. If your house is on fire and you only have time to look at one picture, I suggest the bident one.

I called home and talked to my mom today. I know I should do it more often, as I did in Singapore, but it's almost like it's harder b/c it's easier to do so now? Does anyone get what I'm saying? I know my predecessor, Robbie, does since he said the same thing before I arrived. Anyhoo, apparently my mom saw the pictures I sent to my sister and asked who Jeff was. My sister told her that Jeff is my boyfriend.....but he is gay. Perfect. I told Jeffu this and he was amused. He said that at least my mom didn't say, "Don't be hanging out with those gays!" or something. Very true, very true. I see this as a sign of acceptance. That's why Jeffu and I are deciding to get married...just for the cake, of course. Sad.

Potluck Revived!

We finally had one of our much missed weekly potlucks last night. It was held at Sean's apartment. Sean's parents are in town so we all got a chance to meet them as well. Since Sean said dinner was not to be served and that we'd be having "snacky foods", Jeffu and I grabbed dinner at the grocery store right before we arrived. That may have been a mistake as Sean's mom is in fact, a mom, so we ended up having more than enough food. Though of course we made room for everything presented to us. Omg...we all ate soo much. It was soo good though! Anyway, Sean's parents are awesome and very friendly. I also had the best apple juice I've ever had in my life last night. It's as if someone squeezed the apple right into my cup. Yes, squeeze.

It's gotten SO cold here lately. Fortunately, my school doesn't use the kerosene heaters...at least I hope they don't...so I am getting my heat from the regular heaters. Since Japan doesn't believe in central heating nor insulation, I am super scared of the coming winter months. I heard it just gets progressively colder. The hallways at school are just insanely cold and it's only November. Okay, enough of that.

Thought of the day:

I found out from Ann yesterday that many jr. high school teachers become diabetic from eating kyuushoku (school lunches) b/c they are forced to eat gigantic-sized portions aimed for growing children. It turns out that our kyuushoku contain roughly 900 calories per meal! That's just crazy...who the heck needs THAT many calories a meal?! Anyway, I'm glad that I don't drink the milk nor eat the bread. I've already been serving myself smaller portions (I am the assistant lunch lady w/ my tea lady for staff room meals) but I think I need to serve myself even less now. Geez.

School lunch today: Milk, HUGE bowl of MaPo Tofu, HUGE bowl of rice, kelp, HUGE serving of bean sprout/veggie salad w/ dressing, and a clementine. (Yes, Lisa, clementines are like the cheapest fruits in this country! Ain't it great?!)

Questions, Yet Again

Today's questions/comments in my question box...from my Class 1-C, once again...

"at 30% off"
"You have the wrong number." (I wasn't aware that I made a call in the first place.)
"nut"
"Don't point your finger at people." (I didn't think I did.)
"Don't pick your nose." (I didn't think I did this either!)
"May I have your name please?" (Geez, I've only been teaching them for 3 months. Am I THAT forgettable??)
"Let's forget about past troubles." (Sure!)
"You can pay for it next month." (How do they know about my financial situation?!)
"How do you say 'Okama' in English?" (Um, Jeff, I think this question is directed to you? You even got a capital O!)

Catchin' Up on the Weekend

There is too much to catch up on so I will give you the short (my idea of short) version of what we did this weekend...

On Friday night, I went to Jeff's place to catch up on our Veronica Mars. People, you REALLY need to watch this show...it's AWESOME. First, we went to Nacchan's for dinner and ate too much. Then, we went to Fujimart to buy MOW ice cream and a pastry. We are determined to find every MOW product we can and devour them all. Anyway, we were planning on biking to these places but ended up just walking b/c Jeff and I couldn't get the bike seat down and so my feet couldn't reach the pedals, thus preventing the bike rides. Sad. Anyhoo, walking was good for digestion.

We got to his place and watched 3 episodes of Veronica Mars and 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I love overdosing on t.v. Anyway, we munched on American snacks that his parents sent him but realized that they make us full way too quickly and we felt like crap afterwards as well. Yeah, back to Japanese snacks next time.

The next morning, we raided his local bakery while passing by many of his students along the way. Since Jeff was dressed as a college freshman w/ pj pants and his beanie (look up word "beanie" on Webster's online dictionary), I'm sure gossip will follow at his school this week.

Saturday night, we all went to Grow Up for its closing party. The DJ I liked left early with his wife and kid. Too bad. For some reason, there were kids at this party...I even saw one crawling on the floor! Hehe. Anyway, our night ended early as we had to catch the last train home.

I had to wake up at 7:30am on Sunday morning. It was fine though b/c it was all for the sake of going to COSTCO. Yeah, that's right...they have COSTCO in Japan! Thanks to Mami (she drove), Jeff, Emily, Ann, and I got a taste of home in Japan. We literally walked through every aisle to make sure we didn't miss anything. There are two floors to the COSTCO we went to in Chiba. The entire first floor contained food. And yep, there were SAMPLES! Omg...the samples here MAY even be better than the ones back at home as they had a mixture of American and Japanese foods. Yum yum!! I think Jeff beat us all with his purchases, just in his 16 cans of refried beans. We also had polish dogs, churros, soft cream, and rotisserie chicken. Omg...how I've missed COSTCO.

After COSTCO, we went to Ikspiari...I think that's what it is called. Anyway, it's located just outside of Disneyland, so it's much like Downtown Disney, but way cooler. They had the Disney souvenir shops but they also had stores such as GAP, J.Crew, The Body Shop, Diesel, etc. Yeah...it was awesome. Damn, I wish we got paid earlier.

That night, Jeff, Ann, and I trained home from Ota. I helped Sean get a few things at COSTCO so I told him to meet me at Hosoya station, which is the stop right before mine. The only thing was that the train literally stops for less than 10 seconds at his stop before moving on. It was much like a drug deal. I was going to hand him the goods and he would pay me in the short time that the train stopped. The plan was that if I didn't see him, I would literally just leave his stuff on the platform b/c I really didn't think I could bike back home with 8 cans of Campbell's tomato soup, tortillas, and tortilla chips. I already had stuff of my own I needed to carry. Ann was with me so she used my camera and got the whole transaction on video. As we approached Hosoya station, I was thinking, "Hmm...maybe I WILL need to just leave his stuff on the platform. What would the station agents think?? Haha." Fortunately, Sean was waiting right there when the train doors opened. Thank goodness. The drug deal took place and we now have a video clip to prove it. Hehe.

Okay, so I know Monday night doesn't count as the weekend but I'll just include it in this post as my weekend never seemed to have ended. Tonight will be a much needed chill and relax night. Anyway, last night I went to Kappa Sushi w/ Jeff, next to AEON. I love how cheap conveyor belt sushi is in this country. They should have more of these places in SD. Anyway, we didn't overeat this time. What?! Are you surprised?? Haha. Anyway, we met up with Mami and Minako and watched "Corpse Bride" at AEON. Monday nights are couples' night so we took full advantage of that. Instead of $18, the movie only cost $10. Damn, I miss student discounts. Apparently, girls can also go as a "couple". That's awesome...b/c it means that as long as we get an even # of people, it'll always be affordable. Being the nerds that we are, Jeff and I took out our JET Diaries and marked the dates for when we will see "Sayuri (Memoirs of a Geisha)" and "King Kong" as well. I am SO excited to see Sayuri as I loved loved loved the book!

Oops! Kay, I need to go to class now!

Fun Choir Competition, Boring Enkai

Well, the choir competition actually turned out to be really cool! All the students had to bike from Kizakichuu to Airys Hall. I was surprised that they'd just let all 290 students bike there...it takes about 20 minutes by bike...not to mention they were all wearing their nice winter uniforms while biking. I went with my JTE by car and we stopped mid-way to guide the students as they passed along. I felt like a cheerleader the entire time. Hehe.

Anyway, each class competed against their own grade level. They had the same first song, but the second was different for each class. I was AMAZED at how well the students could sing. Also, each class had their own pianist and conductor! They pretty much ran the entire thing themselves. It would definitely be hard to find a pianist in every class back at home. The teachers were the judges. I'm glad I didn't have to judge though b/c it was so hard since they were all SO good. Plus, they've been practicing day in and day out for this so it would be really difficult to determine who should get first place....they all deserved it. The entire competition lasted 3 hours. I'm really glad I got a chance to go watch this b/c they are truly talented kids.

That night, I attended my first enkai (party) for Kizaki Chuugakkou (jr. high). It was the most boring enkai EVER, not to mention it cost 5000 yen per person. Let's just say I got home by 10pm, which is super early, considering there is always drinking involved. I knew there was a second party after that, but I didn't want to bother, and plus they didn't seem eager to have me join. I did get some Japanese practice though, because my JTE didn't arrive until later. Oh well, I needed to experience an enkai w/ the teachers here just to see if they are as boring w/ alcohol as they are at school. Sadly, there wasn't much of a difference.

Thought of the day:

I turned on my kotatsu (table with heater) for the first time last night. It kept my legs and feet soo warm. Omg...I am in love with yet another applicance. I guess the lack of viable men in this country leave us with no alternative but to turn to our home appliances for warmth? Very sad.

More Funny Questions

Today is the day of the choir competition. I will be leaving school at noon to attend and listen to my students sing. Fun! Well, I hope. Anyway, I was also invited to my first enkai (party w/ teachers) tonight...my JTE just told me this morning...thanks for the notice. Oh well, at least I got invited, and luckily, I will be able to go. It's gonna be at Typhoon! When my JTE asked if I knew where Typhoon is located, I almost laughed in her face. Um, I think us foreigners have made a name for ourselves there...going like 10x in one week during the summer. Haha.

Anyway, here is what Class 1-C came up with in my question box today:

"Do you like toilet?" (Um..yes? Don't we all??)
"Beijing"
"Cindy - the female sex" (Okay?)
"Happy birthday, Cindy!" (Sweet..although it isn't quite my birthday yet.)
"Mr. Watanabe is crazy about Cindy." (Majide?! Hehe.)
"Cindy was a genius." (WAS?! Am I just like retarded now??)
"A mirror has an even surface."
"How do you say 'hage' in English?" (At least they're using the sentence pattern they've just learned!)
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
"I've eaten more than enough." (With a picture of a hamburger crossed out. Um, yes...this is MY student, of course!)
"Do you have a false tooth?" (Um, first I need to comb my hair, and now they think I have a false tooth? Wtf?! Haha.)

Today's Questions

Here are some of the comments I got in the question box from my ichinensei (first year jr. high students) class today:

"Cindy, raise your hands." (With a picture of a hand.)
"Japan is an island country."
"I'm alone on this island. Help me!" (Hahahahaha...I literally laughed out loud in class on this one. The kid even drew a picture of himself on a deserted island...sweating!)
"I need you!" (Strange.)
"Comb your hair." (With a picture of a comb. Damn, do I look THAT bad?!)

I love Class 1-C. They're so cute!

It Wasn't the Cops...

So, continuing the story of my possessed bike...

On Sunday morning, my bike was still safely parked in front of my apt where it was left on Saturday night. I half expected it to be gone and that I'd find it at the train station again. THAT would've really freaked me out. Anyway, I biked to Joyful Honda to replace the broken lock and got a second lock on top of that. As I biked back to my apt, I was thinking, "Who the heck rode my bike??"

It's Monday and I am at school right now. This morning I told my JTEs what had happened and they were surprised by this as well. They seemed just as confused as I was. My JTE doubted it was the cops but I had her call them just in case. She told me that the cops said they would never do such a thing, and that I would've needed to report the bike as stolen before they would even search for it, let alone leave it at my apt. She gave them my info. for future reference...just in case it happens again? I REALLY HOPE NOT!!! Well, I guess the cop theory is out the door now. My JTE also said that she really didn't think it was a student that did it...I REALLY HOPE SHE'S WRONG! Because if it wasn't a student, then I must have a stalker. Scary scary scary! Okay, I need to start carrying mace...

I'm Freaked Out

On Thursday, I went to Joyful Honda to get a new bike b/c the tire on my old bike was completely gone, and plus I had wanted a new bike for a while anyway.

This morning (Saturday), I rode my bike to the train station and left it there to take the train with Ann to Shibukawa for a cooking class. The class was decent but we didn't cook anything I think I'd be making by myself at home...all too Japanesy...with gobo (burdock) and everything. Anyway, it was good to visit Shibukawa and see some other JETs. After Shibukawa, Ann and I trained to Takasaki to meet up with Jenny, Jeff, and later Anna to do some shopping. It was all very successful and all of us made some nice purchases, especially Jenny, with her oh-so-British coat from the GAP. It's like they made the coat with her in mind? I dunno how that's possible but let's just say it was a perfect fit.

Anyway, after lots of shopping and eating, we all trained back to our own apts. When I returned to Kizaki station, I went to where I left my bike and realized that it had been stolen. I had only bought the bike 2 days ago and it was already gone. I WAS PISSED. I had to walk back from the station to my apt, but luckily, I live very close so the walk was not bad at all. As I reached my apt, I saw my old bike (still w/ the flat tire), but I also saw another bike parked next to it. It looked a lot like my new bike...the one that had just been stolen from the station. I walked up to it, took a closer look, and realized from the serial # that that was indeed my bike. I thought I was going insane. Did I actually just walk to the train station and not bike at all? How did the bike end up back at my apt? Anyway, as I inserted my key into the bike lock, I saw that the lock had been pried completely open. Someone had definitely stolen my bike at the station. I looked for a note from the cops on the bike, in my mail slot, but nothing. Do the cops just find random stolen bikes and return them to the exact location where it belongs w/o leaving any trace of even a note? That seems weird to me. If not, then this just means that SOMEONE went through the trouble of stealing my bike from the station and rode it all the way to my apt and left it there....only to not have a bike in the end. Freakin' scary yo!!! Am I being STALKED? HOW did this person know where I live? Can it be a student...although I can't imagine my students doing this. Whoever did it, it is some scary-as shit. I am afraid to go outside my apt tonight. I wish I knew who did it. I need to investigate this further on Monday...w/ my JTE and the cops. Maybe I SHOULD carry that personal panic alarm I got from my school from now on. Or WAIT...am I just being paranoid??? Okay, I need to get to the bottom of this because as you can imagine, seeing your bike parked outside your apt when you had originally left it at the train station is FREAKIN' SCARY.

Tlicku o Tleato

On Halloween, I dressed up as a student to school. I wore the school uniform, put my hair in pigtails, and even carried around a Disney Chip N' Dale bucket full of stickers with me. When I first got to school to put on my indoor shoes, a teacher walked right up next to me and said nothing. It wasn't until I greeted her that she responded with a shocked look on her face...then came the laughter. I guess it's pretty funny? I dunno. Anyway, I walked into the staff room and greeted my kyoto sensei (vice principal), and he looked shocked as well, and asked what was wrong. I told him that it was Halloween. Then, all the teachers saw me and couldn't stop laughing. I guess Halloween isn't celebrated at my school at all, since none of the teachers even knew it was Halloween and wondered why I was dressed up as a student. Actually, most of them didn't even notice that I was dressed up as a student...they just thought that I was a student. Sad. My JTE, Mrs. Hashiba, totally ignored me when she walked past my desk. I finally said "Good Morning!" and she looked at me in complete shock. She told me, "I was wondering why a student was sitting at your desk!" Um, yeaah.

I went to my first class and my JTE, Mr. Watanabe, introduced me as a new student to Kizaki Jr. High School. I walked in, and the students...well, let's just say there were a lot of "Ehhhhhhhh!"s going around. They kept staring and were like "Kawaaaiiiiii!" Apparently, half the class saw me at Disneyland on Friday as well. One student said, in Japanese, "I saw you at the gift shop buying the Mickey Mouse hair ties you're wearing." Another student said, "I saw you at Splash Mountain when you were getting a fast pass." It's fine that they all saw me...I kind of expected it...but it's just freaky when they don't say hello when they do see me, but tell me exactly what I was doing at that time. It just seems a little stalkerish? Yes, I DO teach English, thank you very much. Anyway, the Halloween lesson I planned worked out great, which I'm really happy about since it didn't take much planning at all; I love worksheets and games where the students do all the work. That's the real way to teach. Hehe.

I walked around the school in my "costume" during my periods off and carried my Chip N' Dale bucket with the shoulder strap and everything. I gave every student that was able to say "Trick or Treat" a sticker, since I found out we are not allowed to pass out candy or chocolate to students. Well, I take that back. None of them are actually ABLE to say "Trick or Treat"...too many r's. I came to accept that it is impossible for them to pronounce it correctly. If I heard 3 syllables, that was good enough. The students loved the stickers, even though most of them had no idea why I was passing out stickers or why I was dressed like one of them. I also took some pictures with them as well, and sadly enough, I realize that I actually DO look like a student in the pictures.

Thought of the day:

Am I ugly?? Today, my student came up to me at my desk and said, "Excuse me, UGLY teacher?" I was thinking, "What?! How dare this boy call me ugly to my face?! The nerve!" I asked him to repeat what he said (as if I needed to hear that I'm ugly once again), and he said, "You know music teacher, UGLY teacher? Where?" Then I thought, "Wow, that's soo mean!" That's when I realized...the music teacher's name is "Ooguri sensei." Hahahahahahaha. He was looking for Ooguri sensei, not telling me that I'm ugly to my face. Damn, I REALLY need to listen more carefully next time.

Draw Halloween Party

On Saturday, I went to Joyful Honda (biggest home store in Gunma) to do a bit of shopping. I got many things I didn't need (that's what happens when you go in w/o a shopping list), but I am still happy about my purchases. I discovered that Saturdays are customer appreciation days at the grocery store inside so I bought my week's worth of groceries there as well. Even though the veggies there are cheaper, biking back was not so much fun with bags upon bags in my mamachari basket. I think I'll just stick with Beisie from now on...the bike ride is a lot shorter from there.

Anyway, Saturday night I dressed up as a Kizaki Jr. High School student w/ pigtails to the Draw Halloween party in Maebashi. I asked my JTE to borrow a school uniform for me and she got the school nurse to lend me a spare one. I'm not sure who this spare uniform would fit b/c it literally looked like clown pants on me and were waay too long. But then again, most of my students are taller than me anyway.

Ann and I trained to Maebashi from my place. We sat in the car w/ the fewest people and I kept hiding behind her b/c I didn't want someone from school seeing that I had the uniform on, since I borrowed the uniform using the excuse that I was gonna plan a Halloween lesson and said I wanted to dress up as a student to school. What else could I have said? "Can I borrow a school uniform so that I can go clubbing w/ it and pose in scandalous pictures with my friend, Jeff, who's dressed as a JTE?" Yeah, didn't think that would go over too well with them. Hehe.

We got to Draw and it turned out a lot of people didn't dress up. Sad! Oh well. Jenny dressed up in a hot maid's outfit...hot hot hot! Jeff and I had our quick affair...at least in pictures...and Sean was "the dude" in the Big Lebowski? I need to see the movie now. Nacchan was the sweetest angel ever and even Hardgay was there! Anyway, it was fun to be able to dance for a bit...too bad they didn't have much Hip Hop playin'..oh well. We had to leave the place early but it was still fun. I think another dancing event is much needed in the near future...as if I need to overbook my JET Diary even more so than now.

Disneyland

We did it! Jeff and I finally went to Disneyland! It was soo much fun! I have to say that Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain is 100x faster than the one back at home. We rode on it 3x, and on the last time, we sat in the front seat...the best ever! Yaay for fast rides where you can't take a breath of air to continue screaming!

I got up at 4am in order to catch my 5:16am train to Disneyland. I was not happy about that. It was freakin' cold-as and completely dark outside. Very scary. Anyway, I think Jeff and I each bought an entire conbini with us on our train ride. We had soo many snacks and caffeine drinks you'd think we're going camping or something. We got to Disneyland at around 8:30, and surprisingly, there weren't many people there yet. That's when we took full advantage of our fast passes. We pretty much rode on all the major rides by 11am. Yaay for us! Thank goodness we are the same person, allowing us to take on various priorities at different times during the day, i.e.) rides, souvenir shopping, churro/pumpkin soft cream/pastry/lunch/dinner/coconut popcorn stops, and of course, picture-taking. Um yeah, I still can't post pictures yet. I'm sure Jeff will have some photos on his blog though.

I was surprised to see that the lines for food and souvenirs were just as long as the lines for the rides. I kid you not. Jeff and I would walk by a line of people and say, "I wonder what this ride is...must be good since the line wraps around the corner..." only to realize that people were lining up for turkey legs. Uh, yeah. All the souvenir shops were soo crowded as well, b/c the Japanese have the tradition of bringing back omiyage (souvenirs) for their friends, family, co-workers, etc. when going on a trip...even to Disneyland. Things, random souvenir items, were selling like hotcakes...the shelves were emptying out well before closing. Also, everyone, and I mean everyone, bought a "fast pass holder" which is essentially a piece of string attached to a plastic pouch that people wore around their necks to "carry" their fast passes. This costs $5 per holder. Jeff and I found a much more convenient and cheaper "fast pass holder"....our pockets. Another thing was that everyone seemed to have ears/hats. Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Goofy, whatever the character, people loved them silly ears and hats. Some of them looked totally retarded, especially the teenage punks who wore the cute little Mickey ears, thinking they were all hard and stuff. Um...gangsta doesn't equal Mickey ears. However, I do have to admit that I fell for one of the other "must-have" items at Tokyo Disney....a Chip N' Dale popcorn bucket. It was filled with coconut popcorn, has a shoulder strap and everything! I know I'm a dork, but you have to see it! At first I thought it was stupid, but it definitely grew on me. I am using it as a Halloween bucket for stickers at school...I'll blog about that later.

The decorations at Tokyo Disney were beautiful. I do love all the Halloween stuff they put up, especially how they've transformed The Haunted Mansion. Soo fun! They also have a waay better Sleeping Beauty Castle than the one back at home...it's not neon pink. Hmm...what else. Oh yeah, I inevitably ran into one of my students at the gift shop. It figures that it was in her class that I told them that I was not going anywhere for the 3-day weekend. There goes my lil' secret. Oh well. Apparently, tons of my students saw me there as I was informed in my classes today...they just didn't say hello to me. Damn, maybe I should've worn one of those silly hats and gone incognito.

One last thing. I got pushed by a Chinese lady. Jeff and I were taking a look at our picture in front of the Disneyland sign when a lady pushed me aside and said, "Move! We need to take a picture!" in Chinese. I know I'm a self-hater, but Chinese people can be soo freakin' rude sometimes! Argghhh!!

But in all, it turned out to be a really fun trip. This was a great first experience at Tokyo Disneyland, thanks to great company! We laughed soo much...mainly being bitter and making fun of people...but that's what we do. We shall hit Disney Sea next! We took the first train there and the last train back. I slept for 11 hours that night...a much needed deep sleep.