Well, long time no write! This is a total my bad and I do apologize. I have just been so lazy when it comes to getting this done. On top of that, work has been a bit on the busy side lately. On Novemeber 12th, about 350 people from all over Japan are coming to my school to see how we function! We are like a one of a kind school (a public academy with both elementary and junior high school students. We also have a "Western-style school building with heating and air!). Anyways, they will be coming to see if our system actually works. During the 2nd term, we have been pretty busy preparing for their visit.
Enough about that, I'm writing this blog so that I can update you on what has been going on in general and share some pics I've been taking along the way. I won't be posting them all here because there are just too many. Instead, I will just post the links were you can find them and give you a bit of a description of what you are looking at. Speaking of pics, I finally paid for the Flickr account pro thingy! Now, I can upload all I want!!
Well, let's get started!
Up 1st we have my WONDERFUL trip to Tokyo Disney Sea. Japan is the ONLY place in the world where you can visit Disney Sea! We went there for my friends Lauren's birthday. It pretty much turned into a 3 day trip to Tokyo. We decided to take the bus up there because Lauren found a GREAT deal. We only paid $70 round trip for our bus fair! How awesome is that?! Let me tell you, it's pretty darn AWESOME considering that we would have paid over $200 round trip to take the bullet train O_o. We arrived one hot afternoon in July, spend the afternoon shopping in Akihabara (techie/anime capital of Japan), eating in Tokyo station and finding our way to our hotel in Chiba. Day 2, Laruen's birthday, was spend in the glory that is a Disney theme park! I was SO excited that I almost cried! I mean, this was my first Disney theme park experience!
Next up and fresh from my trip to Tokyo, we have the Toyota Fireworks Festival. This was my first year going to the festival because in the previous years, I think I was either busy or broke. In the case of this year, I was broke (Disney was an EXPENSIVE trip), but I managed to make it :-) Once again, the Brits and I teamed up for a lovely trip out to Toyota. It's not that far, but being on a train crowded to the point of bursting makes is feel as if it took FOREVER! However, the fireworks were SO worth the trip. STUNNING! I will try to get you some video as well, but for now here are some pics.
Moving right along, we have God Fakers-my favorite rock band in Japan. These guys aren't pros or anything...just yet, but I support them whenever they have a concert. 2 of the members are former NOVA students of mine and I was with them when they first started thinking of forming a band. A couple of years later, they are rockin' the hell out! This post is mainly for my bestie Margaret, because she too shares in the wonderful-ness that is God Fakers! So, Maga- this is for you buddy!!!
My summer vacation wasn't too excited, but it was VERY EXPENSIVE! I mean the Disney trip was the climax and after that, things just didn't live up to it. That, plus the fact that Margaret left me here in Japan without a bestie T_T Oh well, I'm still wishing here OODLES of luck back in the States in Grad school. Anyways, summer was cool, I bought a cool black Nintendo Wii, some games, a 2 terabyte hard-drive, and something else that cost WAY too much that I can't remember. Oh and I went to go see about 8 movies :-) At $20 a pop, I think it's pretty safe to say that by September, I was pretty much scraping the yen off my floor!
September came, and with it came the start of 2nd term at school. Talk about busy! We had to prepare for our Culture Festival and Sports Festival which were to be held at the end of the month. First up, Culture Festival (Sept. 24th). On this day, grades 5-9 have a singing competition, get to display their talents in a bit of a talent show, play games, and experience various parts of Japanese culture: flower arrangement, preparing green tea, origami, and other forms of art. The younger kids study for the first half of the day and then get to participate in the cultural activities. This year, I stayed with the older kids. This was my first year being able to see what happens at this time. It was a pretty interesting experience, however, I thought that it would have been a bit better if they included cultures from other countries as well.
September 25th, Sports Day. The time has come when we all compete against each other in games, relays, song, and dance. The school is broken up into 3 groups: red, yellow, and blue. I was on the red team and my co-worker Derick (junior high ALT) was blue. During this gloriously sunny day, the kids ran, skipped, and danced their hearts out in hopes of bringing their team the honor of being this year's champion. After a full day of sports and games, the numbers were all tallied and Tobishima Academy's 1st Sports Day ended in a first EVER 3-way tie!! The numbers were counted over and over again, and as fate would have it, EVERYONE played to win...and they did!! What a day to remember!!!
Well, enough of school for a while. Linda and I were invited to take a trip out to Shiga Prefecture, Nagahama city with her old co-workers. Linda and I have already been there (we make glass pendants), but we decided to go again with this group. After arriving, we walked around the small town, taking in it's old-fashion atmosphere. Eventually, we made our way over to the area where we could pay to play with glass. This time at Kuro-Kabe square (the glass making area of town), we were able to participate in a different activity: sandblasting! It was harder for me because I have NO talent for drawing things. Not only that, we had to cut out the drawings to boot. I ended up with something simple with my name (in kanji) on the bottom. I'm still VERY pleased with my creation! After that, we ate lunch, did a bit more walking around, and made our way over to Hikone Castle. The last time we were here, Linda, Margaret, and I wanted to see the castle but ran out of time. This time, we made it. After climbing the mountain it sat upon and providing the mosquitoes with a feast, we finally got to tour it. No one told us that the stairs within the castle were so damn vertical and just as dangerous to climb!! Anyways, we got to see the castle and it's little mascot-Hikonya. Don't really know what it is, but whatever. After arriving back in Nagoya, Linda and I were starving and decided to go find some 'meat burgers'. Couldn't have asked for a better ending to a great day :p
Ok, moving right along, I'm going to take you back to my school. I got to go on a field trip with the 5th graders. The only reason I chose to go with them is because they were going places I haven't been before. The other classes were going on trips as well, but I have been there and done it. So, I donned my hard hat, I was off with the 5th graders to see the wonders of creating steel. It was in fact, pretty darn cool...and VERY HOT! We got to witness as the hot stuff was being poured down the long path and stretch out to just about 1km long. As it went down the path at over 1200 degrees it's gradually flatten. I didn't get to take pics inside 1) because of the heat and 2) because they said that I couldn't :p After that, we went to see a MASSIVE thingy that did stuff! I believe, if I understood correctly, that it does important stuff such as hold and burn...stuff. I wasn't really paying attention because the sight of it looked as if it was from Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle; I was too busy starring and taking pics. Finally, we made our way out to Toyota to visit the Toyota factory. Last year, I went to the Honda factory, so I knew that there were to be NO CAMERAS allowed. Sorry. It was really cool though :-) I got to seem them put together cars and the different parts moving all around the factory flying to get to their places. In the end, they gave us all a Prius...it was a toy of course and we had to put it together, but it's the thought that counts.
Time for another break from school...kinda. Last month, one of the teachers at school asked me if I wanted to be on a tug-o-war team. Of course I said "YES!". Little did I know that this was an actual sport! I mean we had training practices and everything. There is an actual technique to this game and boy does it HURT!! So, I endured the pain and suffering for the sake of the experience. In the end, we made it to the competition. I was the youngest one on my team and quite possibly the ONLY one who DIDN'T smoke, so it was pretty safe to say that we were screwed. We were up against club that specialize in this game!! All in all, my record for the day was 2-2. I had a FABULOUS time and met A LOT of people. I became the famous one of the day that EVERYONE just had to be around! You know me, must be at the center of attention :-)
Almost finished, I promise...but it's back to school, this time, my kindy English club. I might as well include my elementary school as well. A couple of weeks ago we had our Halloween classes/party. I didn't do too much this year in regards to dressing up; wasn't really motivated, but I did manage to have a good time. For the English club, we made masks and at my other school be played some Halloween games; 2 "popular" ones: pumpkin pass and mummy wrap, and one I made up: zombie hunter. We all had a wonderful time! My 3rd grade class really got into the spirit and dressed up a bit! Too cute!!
Ok, FINISHED!! You are now caught up...kind of. There is a bit more, but I haven't uploaded those pics (SO glad I purchased the Flickr pro account!). Anyways, more on that later. I hope that you guys had a great time viewing my life one pic at a time. Nothing special, but I like it :p
