Cake in a Cup

Well, Linda and I were out and about getting our shopping on when we happened upon an interesting box of cake mix. It's like the Japanese version of the cup cake. Now my question as to why my students NEVER understand me or are highly confused when I talk about cup cakes from home has been answered. They actually bake the cake in a cup! Seriously! I poop you not! Take a look:




It says: To make a cup cake, just add 1 egg and microwave for 2 mins.



Linda and I tried. Here's mine in my Cookie Monster mug. I had vanilla.


Linda's in here Spiderman mug. She had caramel.






His brains are popping out!




Spidey's too!


The end result! 2 cup cakes-literally. They were pretty good considering the effort put into making them-not bad at all.

Phantom of the Opera

Here's another late posting-sorry. October 11th, the girls and I, along with a few other friends of ours had a date to see The Phantom of the Opera. We had to buy our tix way in advance because they were selling out very fast. They had to extend the show to support the demand. Well, we bought our tix (not too expensive ~$80-85) and were set to go. Surprisingly, I had never seen the opera before (go figure with me being a theatre major and all). So, I had to brush up on it before the show. My roommie (Linda) gave me the DVD to watch (in English) so that I wouldn't be completely lost during the performance (in Japanese). Granted, I would have figured it out, but knowing the story ahead of time did help. Also, a few things were lost in translation. All in all, it was money well spent. I even teared up at the end. The singing was absolutely amazing!!! I would LOVE to see it again in either language.








We saw the 4937th show




Peek-a-boo Joseph


Grrrr! Linda's gonna getcha!

Another Sat. Night @ the Bar

Now, this was a while back, so please forgive the lateness. I have just been a bit busy with life that I just haven't had time to update. Anywho, this was way back on the 10th (of October) when Margaret and I decided to go out (again) for some after after work drinks-you know to chil-lax a bit from the crazy week we had. Well, on this day at one of our fav bars, the bartenders (who I have befriended-you know me) asked if we would like to have our own room/space. We were like cool and the next thing we know we were up in like a loft above the everyone else in our own little room with table, tv, and play station. Talk about super cool! We even had to take off our shoes! Funny stuff.



Slightly overworked chil-laxer: ME!!!


Slightly overworked chil-laxer: Margaret!!!


Isn't the tv super cute?


We needed to play something-couldn't let the playstation go to waste


I'm multi-tasking!!




Couldn't help it! Oh how I do love ME!!

Me & The Boys in Tokyo

My boys came to Japan!!!! How happy was I to hear that they would be making an appearance over on my side of the world. However, they arrived and stayed in Tokyo which is about an hour and 45mins away from Nagoya on the Shinkansen (bullet train). All of that would have been alright if I didn't stay up all night the previous night. When I received the call that they were in town and would like to meet me for lunch, I had just properly fallen asleep. Oh well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have fun with my beloveds so, I decided to take a day trip up to the big city to spend some time with my babies.



Here comes my train


I caught the super fast one


I don't look too bad considering I only had 3 hours of sleep


I have arrived!!!


Harajuku


Meet Rommie


And here's Paul


My new friend Richard


And Brian...he fits right in :-p


It's crepe time










Let the walking begin...and boy did I walk them good!


Can't help myself-I like taking pics of me :-p


Did we go in Kiddy Land? What do you think?




Paul having WAY too much fun on the bouncy thing-almost destroyed the little one behind him


Oh come on!! You know we had to have a look


The Boys putting on their "happy face"


How they really felt about all the walking we did


I love this guy! The boys wanted a pic taken with him, but he wanted his pic taken with me-how cool is that?!


Got to love Harajuku!








I had to sneak in another one...


The Yankees


He was getting his twist on!




Ooooh vending machine...


Welcome to Shibuya-home of the world's busiest pedestrian intersection






I got caught up in all of the action


This is what it looks like every time the walk signal pops up...I kid you not!


Dinner time at Lock Up-a jail themed restaurant in Shibuya


Rommie, the naughtiest one of all-he's been a bad boy




Richard enjoying our cramped cell


Brian all stretched out to make the best out of a tight situation


Hey pretty lady!! Me sipping on my beverage


Rommie!


Hi Paul!


He's our monster who came to visit us when the lights went out. I got a lucky shot of him as he scared the crap out of me!


Time for me to say goodbye and head back home


But, not without one final shot of me and my wonderful boys!!

A Day With My Little Ones

Now, this was an interesting day at work. When I walked onto my kindergarten's property, I was met by the principal's wife. She, cheerful as always, quickly handed me a mask to wear for the day. Apparently, a student came down with the "new flu" and instead of closing the school for the week, they made everyone wear a mask. Not a bad idea, but trying to teach a class full of 4 and 5 year olds with short attention spans with a mask over your mouth is easier said than done. I kept almost suffocating myself when I inhaled to much. It was tough, but I made the best out of it-plus, I thought I was kinda cute with my little (big) mask on :-p



Who's the pretty lady??


Little one's gettin' down and funky J-style as they practice their routine




Look at the cute little bundles of germs....I mean joy...


We have our eyes on you....

Rockin' the Shamisen

So, me and Margaret were out on the town one Saturday night-doing some shopping, a bit of eating, and eventually some drinking, when we came upon this guy on the corner rocking out on his shamisen. Needless to say, I had to stick around, take some pics, and make a new friend :-) He gave us a bit of a performance and then gave me his autograph. He's a really cool guy who didn't mind being bothered to 2 random foreigners.

Addiction...

Ok, I think that I have a problem. I was able to hide it for a few years while here and Japan, but recently, it has decided to show it's face again. Now, back at home, I was able to somewhat tame this "habit". Due to credit card limits and time restraints, I wasn't able to feed the flames of this debilitating problem. Also, being here, indulging in this practice could be quite costly. However, in less than 2 weeks time, I have re-discovered the little demon within and he is back with a vengeance.

If you haven't guessed by now, I do have a shopping problem. I buy what I want usually when I want it. I have a room bursting with bags, a cabinet full of shoes, and tons of other stuff I don't even remember purchasing. But, I'm cool with all of that. But, my main problem shows it's ugly head when I'm in a shop full of lovely DVDs. I know weird right? But, I just can't help myself. I have a nice library at home, but here, DVDs are like $40-$60 a piece, so I haven't been buying them much. However, recently, I have gone out of my mind and went on a spree and bought whatever I saw, liked, and could fit in my hands. The collection you see below is from about a week and a half of being on holiday from work, having too much time, and money to spend. Now, my roommie Linda has contributed to the collection as well (about 3-4 movies), but the rest is all me. The beast has been awakened and I don't think I can put it back to sleep. I just LOVE movies!!!!!

I think I need help. The current bet going around is that I will be able to fill up another DVD stand by the end of the year (many think much much sooner)! But, what they are forgetting is that I have to work now and don't have as much time as I did before.


...Help!!!