Cow Festival

Cow Festival
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Today I woke up late and decided to go do some exploring. I went to a shop that I like called Hard Off. It’s a second hand store. On my way back, I was by the train station and I could tell that there was something going on at Okayama Dome so I rode down to check it out.

That something turned out to be a cow festival! It was like a fair, for a second I thought I had stepped into the book Charlotte’s Web. Standing right in front of me were so many cows that were being paraded around and inspected and petted. I parked my bike and walked over because I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to see a cow festival in Japan.


I walked towards a stage where people were singing. There were all of these tents set up around the sides so I started walking around. I called Tara and told her to get over to the Dome for a surprise. She was not exactly sure but she came anyway. As we walked around we found all kinds of booths that were selling cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream and anything else you can make with milk. On the other side was the meat. People were selling t-shirts, giving out pamphlets on my you should have three milks a day, and there was also a little booth set up showing you what you could make out of a milk carton.

We walked and listened to the music. There was a guy on stage singing a song and the words were, “Yo, yo, yo…” We found some real animals that you could pet. There was a duck, some pigs, some rabbits, and some cows. You could even milk a couple of cows but the line was super long.

Afterwards, we were still kind of in shock about this cow festival that I had found so we went and ate lunch and then went to the toy shop with Naoko. It was an interesting day, and the first time I’d ever seen cows in Japan!

Bike News

Bike News
September 18, 2007

Bad news bears…my bike was stolen at the train station. L I was so sad. Actually, I wasn’t sad, I was MAD! It was 7:00 at night and I had just gotten to the train station from a LONG day of work and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. I walked over to where I parked my bike that morning and it was gone. I looked everywhere thinking that it was a trick or something…nope, it was gone.

I called Naoko and told her and she came right away. What a night. Since it was 7pm already, it was too late to do anything so she took me home. My keys were gone too so we had to get some spare keys. What a night.

So the next morning I woke up and got ready to leave (early of course, since I had to walk to the station). I left in plenty of time but for some reason it took me forever to get there. I barely made the train. Tara got there maybe 10 seconds before me and stopped the train for us. She was straddling the train and the platform so that they couldn’t take off. She’s so brave, haha.

Since today was my short day, I went home at 12:30. I was so tempted to take a cab to the apartment but I thought that it would be better to walk and get some exercise so that’s what I did. That was my mistake…it was so hot! It felt like we had gone back into the summer temperatures and the sun was baking me from the inside out. My bags were so heavy and I was wearing flip flops…not ideal for my long walk home. When I FINALLY made it home, I thought I might die, but I hung in there.

I had to go to the police station and report the bike stolen. That was an experience. I’m getting pretty good at international police visits. First Italy and the car thief, now Japan and the bike thief. Lovely. That was a trip because at the Koban (police box) the older man wanted to speak to me in English. I was hot, tired, and not really into communication right then. Yumi was handling it well so I was just fine being quiet, but I had to amuse him by talking. He got a big kick out of practicing his English. I’m glad I could help a brother out.

Yumi took me home and said she would come back later with my new bike. When she did, she made my day! It’s was a bright red, shiny new bike!! The bell is a little wussy but I still have the one that Lindsey gave me for my birthday. It’s WAY better. I’m going to put it on this weekend. I want to put my streamers on too but I’m scared that they might get stolen.

My locks are changed at my apartment so no worries. I’m safe and my bike has two locks now! No one is taking this bad boy from me!! I’ll get a picture up here as soon as I can. It’s a pretty sweet ride, and there’s nothing like a blonde on a red bicycle! If I can pull any of you into town, let me know (Lindsey, name it). haha

Kurashiki Bikan Area

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area
Sunday, September 16, 2007

I got moving early this morning, against my body’s will. I was so tired from my last outing that I thought I wouldn’t recover but I remembered that I am only 26 years old and then I felt guilty for acting like I was 90 so I got a move on. I met Amy on the train at my station and we rode on to Kurashiki to meet Meghan. Meghan lives in Kurashiki so we were going to spend the day being cultural in the city.

When we got off the train, we were greeted by Meghan and seven other friends. Yea! More people to hang out with today! We set off towards the covered mall area. Since there were so many of us, it was inevitable that we could walk straight to the historical area without any stops. We ran in and out of little stores and bought this and that. The weather was just daring us to have a good time, fully aware of any fun that we might have or great purchases we might buy and that’s when the clouds would drop all of the water that they had, down to they very last drop.

Luckily we made it to the historical area before the rain started. When we got there, we had to go in the cat shop. By cat shop I mean totally creep you out 110% because it sells anything cat you might every want, need, desire, or even just think of. There were cat bags, shirts, trinkets, etc. Plus cat toys, cat food, cat, cat, cat! In a HUGE glass case in the middle of the store were three of the fattest cats that I have ever seen in my life. They were all laying around, the epitome of cat life. In the background was cat music…meowing from the loudspeakers. It was quite an experience. They had a few doggie items but it was mostly cat central.

These are the cats that were in the glass cage. They are enormous!

This was the sign on the glass cage that the cats were in. :)

After the cat shop, we popped in and out of many other random shops and then found the art museum. This museum is a great one here in Okayama. It is called the Ohara Museum of Art. I had such a great time in here. They had many paintings by famous names, not necessarily the famous paintings though. They did have Monet’s Water Lilies and to see it up close was great. I have been lucky in my life to visit famous art museums around the world and see some famous pieces that will stick in my mind forever. Seeing this one was wonderful; to see that famous signature up close took my breath away. To name a few famous artists represented in this gallery, there were Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Etc. They also had a small collection of American artists, Pollock for one, and I enjoyed looking at these.

I went to my favorite toy shop today. I had to get a couple of things. I love this place because there are so many handmade toys for all different countries. The bottom decided to drop right out on us though so I was SOAKED when I went in. I felt bad about dripping on the floor, but then I spent some money so I think that pleased the lady. Haha

Amy, Meghan, and I went into some more shops before calling it a day in Kurashiki. I found some really cute things that I would love to go back and get. I keep reminding myself that I live here and I will be here for 10 and a half more months so I don’t have to buy everything the first time I see it. We had exhausted Kurashiki so I said I was going to head back to town. We said goodbye and I started towards the train. I have a good 20 minute walk so I thought it was a good time to go. Down the street I bumped into everyone else who we had left behind awhile ago. They were also heading to the train so we went together.

I wanted to do something else because it was not late but everyone seemed to be heading home. Dennis and I talked about going to play the drums at the arcade but then he had a better idea--going to the MALL!! We jumped on a bus and rode for a little while and we were there. This was a real, live mall. It was like one in America, except a little ghetto. Still, it was so great to feel like I was kind of at home for a little while! I miss things like the mall.

When we walked in, I was greeted by the smell of Starbucks. Ahhhh… Next was The Body Shop. Seeing all of those skin products in English was great. We walked down to a sports store called Sports Authority. It was like Academy Sports. It was so much fun to play in there for awhile. Everything was in English and just comforting. Dennis modeled some of the latest clothes for you.

This is the lone swan that lives in Kurashiki Canal. You might could eat him here, but if you were in England, you couldn't. It's against the law.
This is a little water lily pony outside at the Ohara Museum. You can come and paint your own Monet.

Dennis is modeling the latest fashion from Sports Authority.

He took me into Mega Mart. This is strangely like Wal-Mart, only it doesn’t look as nice…but yet they sell brand naked like Nike and Adidas. It was interesting. We left there and went into some of the other random stores in the mall. We found a clothing store that played American music so we sang for awhile. Then we hit Uni Qlo. This is like a cheap GAP almost. I have one of these down the street from me in my city.

Next came dinner…mall food! I ate a salad from McDonald’s and it was way better than anything I’d eat at McDonald’s at home. Since we had to leave soon, but we wanted to play the drums, we ran down to this arcade we found. It was so huge. We walked around and looked at everything and then we played the game and headed back to the bus. From the bus, we went to the train, and from the train I rode my bike home in the rain. It was such a great day!!! I had so much fun.

Bitchu Takahashi

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bitchu-Takahashi

This weekend was supposed to be one where I traveled to Osaka to spend the long weekend in the presence of so many amazing stores and also go to my favorite…Cirque du Soleil. That didn’t happen though, the show was sold out, so we will try again for another weekend. There was no getting us down though because it was, after all, a 3 day weekend and I was determined to do something entertaining and cultural!

My friend Meghan and I decided that we would go somewhere in Okayama prefecture and see something Japanese. There is a castle there, the Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, and it is well known for being the highest altitude castle in Japan. We decided to go there and check it out since it was only about an hour away, if that.

When we got to the city, we say this HUGE map and we couldn’t believe how far away the castle was. We were going to have to ride a bus to get there and by the time we navigated ourselves to the bus station and communicated to the lady where we wanted to go, we saw that the bus wasn’t leaving for an hour and then the castle would be closing in only a few hours anyway. Instead we got a map of the city and did some other cultural things, vowing to go back on another day to see the castle.

Our other sights were pretty interesting. First we stopped in at a historical museum. Every sign that we saw on our walk to the museum gave it a different name, but I am comfortable with naming it the historical museum. The first floor was full of antique things like books, pianos, phones, clocks, etc. It also had many records of things that had happened in the city in the past. It showed pictures of what must have been an earthquake that left the people in much devastation. The pictures reminded me of Katrina.

The entire upstairs was full of farming equipment, machinery, etc. that they used to use. It was all very interesting but there was no air and we were about to get rain so it was Alabama humidity times ten. We had to get out of that little place.

When I think about our museums, even ones that house things like antiques, I just think about how valuable they are and how the temperature is controlled, etc. I wouldn’t even store my things in a storage building unless it was climate controlled before I left for Japan…I wouldn’t even begin to be able to handle it if something happened to all of my books and furniture! Here there is no air and it’s humid and they have these treasures out, some not even in cases. It amazes me.

After that we walked along and found a temple. I don’t always feel good about going in the temples because they are a place of worship for people, but we went in…and the lady gladly charged us 300 yen! It was nice, nothing like what I am used to at home. Although if Japanese people came and toured my church I’m sure they would say the same thing. There was a lot of gold, but not nearly as ornate at the temple of one of my principals. In the back was a Zen garden. There was music playing and it was so peaceful. I could have sat there all day and been content. It was so beautiful.

Next we went to an old samurai house. It is empty now, but it is apparently quite unusual architecturally and is a cultural landmark in the little town. It was too dark to take pictures inside and there were no lights, but I did get a brochure. J

A little ways down there was a warrior’s house. As soon as we walked in Meghan and I both flipped out because there was a man bowing to us from the corner. Come to find out, he was not real and he was motion censored but he looked as real as you and me and he was creepy. Anyway, this house was build 170 years ago and unlike the other house, this one had fake people in it. We were very careful to look for motion censors in every room. Again, no pictures, but I have the brochure!

Our last stop in the town (besides the Seven Eleven…I am not kidding) was at the Origin of Ikegami Mansion. It was like a little museum that had a ton of things like old machines, tools, newspapers, etc. This town was big into making soy sauce apparently and from what I gather Mr. Ikegami was a rich man who owned a big house and a big place to make sauce. If you know anything about this and can tell me more, feel free.

We caught the train and headed to Wake for dinner with Amy (we picked her up on the way). We ate at Pizza King, very famous here in Okayama. It smelled delicious. Afterwards we had some time to kill and we weren’t ready to say goodbye so we thought we’d go to the tearoom that was recommended by a friend and have coffee before the train.

Stairs to the temple
Zen
more Zen
a Zen lizard
The scary man in the warriors house. Motion censors are so terrible...

We went inside and sat down, but things just didn’t seem right. When we tried to order coffee and water, the lady kept insisting on beer. We kept telling her no, water and coffee but she seemed confused. We were completely confused so she was in good company! Finally Meghan and Amy got a Chu Hi each (like a wine cooler) but I still only wanted water. We waited and waited and thought that she sure was taking a long time to go get to cans and a glass of water…and the next thing we know she’s coming out with our drinks and a plate of cheese and crackers! Keep in mind that we had JUST told her that we didn’t want food because we had just eaten at Pizza King. THEN she comes back out with some more snacks.

It seems as though we had stepped into a tearoom/BAR! Amy, Meghan, and I were so confused. We didn’t know what was going on exactly but those people seemed to love us. They wanted to speak to us in English and know all about us. It was really funny. After a little while we figured out that the two ladies that were working were sisters.

We were still trying to figure out how we had come into a bar when it said tearoom on the door when they brought out more snacks and…KARAOKE! They wanted these Western girls to sing Celine Dion, “My Heart Will Go On.” Wow, it was quite entertaining for us all. We sang a few songs and then it was time to head out.

We told them that we had to leave and they were all so sad. They tried to get us to stay and sing some more but we had a train to catch. When the bill came, it was for 5000 yen!!! That’s about $50. The only thing we can figure is that maybe it was namihodi (all you can drink) and karaoke. $20 per person. We think that because it was 6000 yen but scratched out to 5000 yen and I didn’t drink anything but water so maybe they dropped the price.

Whatever it was, it was way too expensive but it was a hilarious night. We got to the train station and we were all three still stunned but we couldn’t stop laughing at our experience. Oh, Japan…



Our drunk waitress with a tamborine
Meghan
Me
Meghan and Amy
The food we did not order...next up? The 5000 yen bill!

Natale Museum

Dinner at Natale Museum
Friday September 14, 2007

Tonight I finished work at 6:30, but instead of hopping on the train and going home my teachers took me out to dinner. I we excited to go because we were in Fukuyama, the city that I commute to, so I never spent time there besides at the schools. We drove for a little while and even though it was dark, it was beautiful. We were right next to a lot of water. The way the lights from the city reflected in the water was gorgeous. The 5 year old teacher was driving, Mika. She is this tiny girl, so cute and quiet, but she drives fast! I didn’t think she had it in her.

When we got to the restaurant called Nalate Museum, it looked pretty cool from the outside so I knew it was going to be great…I just had that feeling.

We went inside and it was really trendy and modern. It was like a lot of places at home. I liked it a lot. They had already determined the menu so that was nice; it was a huge variety of everything.

The food started coming and kept coming! There was salad, pork tenderloin and bean sprouts, shrimp, sausages, french fries, shrimp pasta, pizza with rice, cheese, and seaweed, and this chicken that was wrapped in cabbage topped with some tomato sauce, served with broccoli and green beans. I sampled some of the food but I didn’t taste everything. There was SO much! At the end, they brought out dessert. It was so pretty! There was some ice cream and on top was a heart shaped cookie, then there was some grapefruit jello (they call it jelly), and some chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and fruit. I took a picture for you!
I passed this up. What will power!!!


We had a great time at dinner, talking and laughing. My teachers love hearing about my family and friends. They want you all to visit so that they can meet you. We had been sitting there forever having a great time when Mika jumped up and told me it was time for us to go to my train. Everyone started pulling out money and I asked how much I owed and they told me that it was a present. I insisted that I pay but they said no. The people here are just so sweet. I love them so much. They take amazing care of me and treat me so well. I hope that one day I can repay them if they ever want to take a trip to America!

Lessons for the week of September 10

Lessons
September 15, 2007

This week has been full of hilarious events at school. I’ll share some with you.

Monday: Futaba Nursery School
On Mondays I go to Futaba and I teach the 5 year olds. Like all of my kids, I love them, they are just adorable. When I went into the classroom I was getting ready for class and the poor things were exhausted. They have been practicing for their Sports Festival and are outside everyday in the heat practicing, practicing, practicing… They would hardly sing or dance with me. I made a new game up though and they were getting into it. Finally, something woke them up!

At the end of my lesson, I always get many hugs. Today was no different. My hugs were a little different though because instead of hugging and then letting go, they stayed attached; they were SMELLING me! Yes, I’m serious. In Japanese one hugged, smelled, and told the others. They all came and did the same and the response was a lot of Japanese followed by “American.” Haha, it was funny! Funnier even when they moved on to my hands and started inhaling them and repeating, American.” It took me a minute but I realized that what they were smelling was my perfume. It was classic.

Tuesday: Tomiyama Nursery School
I teach the 5 year olds here also. These children were also exhausted from for their Sports Festival. They came in and did not want to talk or move. They just sat there. It was like pulling teeth to have a conversation. I taught them a new song and any other time they would have been all about it. Not today! They were just dead. At the end of the lesson time I said, “We have time for one more song!” Usually they start naming suggestions. Today they crossed their arms to resemble and X and said “NO.” The teacher and I laughed so hard.
Wednesday: Joto Nursery School
I teach the 3, 4, and 5 year olds here. The 3 year olds are always a trip because they are so little and excited about everything that we do. I love it! Today we traced one of them on paper to make a life size human body and then we colored in the hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands and feet. I labeled them in English. It was so funny to watch them color in that person. The end result resembled something from a horror movie, but it was great.

The 4 and 5 year olds are always a challenge because I have a few high maintenance children in there. Since I can’t speak Japanese and they don’t speak English, I can’t communicate like I would in my regular classroom. It’s not an ideal situation but I’ve found some things that work. We did the same lesson that I did with the three year olds. It turned out a bit better, not so crazy looking since the kids had more of a concept of what a human should look like.

Thursday: Hikari Nursery School
I have the 3 year old for 15 minutes to sing with. They are so funny and so excited about life. We sing and dance and have a great time. They all want to hold my hand and touch me. I love it. Next I have the 4 year olds, then the 5 year olds. In both classes we did the trace the body lesson and draw/color the parts. It went along with a book that we read. By the end of the lesson my kids were remembering the English. Yea!

Friday: Midori Nursery School

I have the same schedule here as I do at Hikari. My 3 year olds sing and afterwards they all want to give me hugs. Today I even got a couple of kisses. They are precious. My 4 year olds made Monster Pizzas today. We made a recipe together last week and today we cooked. That was really run. It was like being back at home. I borrowed this idea from a friend who teaches kindergarten at my school. The kids had a great time.

My 5 year olds are researching about monkeys right now. Together we looked at monkey pictures and short video clips that I had on my computer from when I went to Shodoshima Island. I am teaching the teachers about research and how I do it in my classroom so they wanted me to take the children through the steps. It’s fun to do with the kids, and surprisingly easy with the language barrier!

That’s all for my week. Maybe you’ll get a kick out of it. I sure did. I usually don’t write about my school life, but some of these things were just too funny not to mention!

Comments

I seriously might be an idiot...

I never noticed that I had comments on my blog until today! If you thought I was ignoring you, I wasn't. I just wasn't bright enough to see the comments! SORRY!! :)

Happy Birthday!

I have to take a moment and say...

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY CASEY!!!

I called her on her birthday so even though the post is late, I'm not really late. If you didn't call her on her birthday (September 10) then YOU are late!

Thank goodness Daddy made that cake...

Hair Day

Hair Day!
September 9, 2007

I completely forgot to tell you about my hair! It all started on September 8 when I was out on my shopping day. I was walking around and looking in shops when I came upon a salon. The way I worded that, it sounds like a fairytale, huh? Well, it kind of was.

I have been in desperate need of getting my hair done and no one seems to have the number of the English speaking man that everyone else used so I just decided to wing it. I have seen so many salons but this one was different, it had so many people inside and it was really trendy. I stood outside looking in for a little while, you know, just checking everything out.

First I looked at the stylists’ hair. They all looked normal (for Japanese standards). Then I checked out the customers. They were getting excellent treatment. The prices were on the door and I was amazed at how cheap they were. Of course, for the American, they would be a little bit more.

So as I was standing there, in my own little world, I was only focused on what was interesting me. I was jerked back into reality when I noticed that the girls who take appointments (what is the word for that? I seriously have lost my vocabulary) were starting at me. I waved and then they came outside! Oops! I asked if they spoke English but they didn’t. No worries because here comes Yamada, soon to be my new Japanese hair stylist. He spoke English!

I told him what I wanted and I told him how I wanted it done and he was very excited to help me. He told me to come back the next day at 10am. I was pretty thrilled, but a little nervous. I told him that I was a little scared (I used my Japanese words!) and he laughed.

The next day I went back to the salon and was greeted with all of my new stylist friends. They just seemed so thrilled to have an American there. They all stared at me and smiled so big. They even gave me the one copy of the Japanese Vogue to read! Wow! I felt like a superstar!

Yamada had prepared some English questions for me. It was great. Here while you get your hair done, you read a magazine. Maybe they talk to you, I don’t know. He didn’t say too much since there was a language barrier. He did my highlights just like at home, Michelle would be proud. Instead of going and sitting under the drier, they brought the drier to me. That was nice.

After a wash, a nice long wash, I went back over for my cut. I told him a little bit, like 1 cm. My hair has grown about 2 inches since I left home so I am letting it grow now. He did a good job on the cut but the poor guy had no clue how to dry a Western girl’s hair, haha. I think he thought that he might hurt me if he brushed my hair too hard or something. He barely brushed and my hair looked wavy after the dry, but the color was good and I was happy. Great experience!! If you come to Japan and want to get your hair done, I’ll share Yamada with you!

Shopping and Rugby

New Experiences
Saturday September 8, 2007

The past week was a killer. I was so tired Friday night that I passed out at 9:30. I did that a few times this past week. I woke up Saturday morning and I was ready to go at 8am. I talked on the phone for awhile to my family and then got a call from a friend here in Japan. She and some people were going out that night to have dinner and then hitting up the Aussie Bar to watch the Rugby World Cup games. I was excited to meet some new people and I didn’t know anything about rugby so I thought it would be fun.

I had the afternoon to myself so I did some shopping. I am trying to get a jump on my Christmas shopping this year. I say that every year but I mean it this year. It’s not hard being here in Japan because every time I see something really interesting I think, “Oh… ____ needs this!!” and I buy it for their Christmas present. If you get something weird from me, it’s because I was thinking that you needed it at the time. J I did have a few things in mind when I went out shopping but of course I didn’t find those, I found MUCH better stuff.

I miss being at home for the seasonal stuff. I really want to decorate for Halloween for some reason; I think it’s really just because they don’t celebrate it here. Well, one of my first stops was my favorite bookstores. It also carries flowers and stationary and many other things. Guess what I found…a baby pumpkin!!! I was so excited! It was like all of those times where Mom would take us to the grocery store and let up choose our own baby pumpkin to have at home. I had to dig through all of them and inspect them and finally choose the perfect one. It was fun. When I was paying, the man taught me the Japanese word for pumpkin. It is pronounced, “Puccini” but that is not spelled right.

In the bookstore they had all kinds of decorations for Halloween. They were crazy expensive but it was fun to look at them. It made me miss reading Halloween books to my kids and doing Halloween story problems. I miss teaching at home like crazy! That’s been a hard part about being here, even though I’m teaching.

I left the bookstore and started walking down a strip with stores on both sides. I went into many of the stores I usually rush past. Many days it’s so hot that I go out with a plan and try to get inside as fast as possible. The weather was nice though so I just strolled along and looked around.

I found a discounted store that was full of books--in English!! There were so many children’s books that I didn’t know what to do! I wanted to buy so many of them but I controlled myself. They were so cheap! I did buy a few hardbacks that I couldn’t get cheaper at home, even at the Scholastic sale! I was having a great time just looking around. Sometimes I love shopping alone, I just get to do my own thing and I don’t have to rush or accommodate anyone else.

About that time I was ready to head down to the pet store to look for Miley a little present. Her birthday is coming up you know! She’s going to be one. I found exactly what I was looking for, but I can’t tell you right now. You will have to wait about three and a half months until I go home for Christmas. I will take a picture and post it, but I don’t want to spoil it, it’s going to be TOO cute!

While I was in the pet store I noticed that the monkey was gone. I guess they had to get rid of him or someone bought him. I don’t know, but it was SO much quieter without him there! I looked at the puppies for a minute but I had to stop and get out of there. I cannot look at those babies in those little cages. They are so sad looking and lonely. I wanted to buy one so that Miley could have a sister. They looked so much alike. It just broke my heart though to look at the dogs and I really thought I was going to cry. That always happens to me when I go into a pet store. I have to stop writing about it; it’s killing me right now.

Okay, so in front of the stores a man was running around pulling a little carriage thing that people could pay to ride in. I’ve seen this before in Kurashiki, but that day is was about a million degrees. Today it wasn’t as hot and it was shady so the guy didn’t look quite as foolish, although he still looked pretty silly. The people riding were getting a kick out of it though.

This man is nuts...and his shorts are so short!


I went to a department store to look around. I love looking at the Gucci and Prada and Channel and seeing what I would buy if I was rich and famous. haha One day this teacher will make it big, right? J Keep dreaming, Amanda. In the meantime, I’ll just look. The department store I was in was Tenmya. They have many things but there’s really no point in looking at clothes or shoes because I can’t wear any of them…I’m too tall and my feet are too big.

I left there and went to another little mall and looked around. There’s a GAP and Northface there so I feel more at home when I go in. I shopped in GAP for a little bit, getting my head around some of the fall fashion, GAP style. There were some cute things but I was not in the mood to try anything on. I just wanted to smell that GAP smell and think about America for a few minutes. J Upstairs there is a great bookstore that has a good children’s section and a decent English section. I wandered up there for a little while. I wanted to pick up a couple of things and look around.

I left that mall and thought I would head back to the train station area since I had pretty much exhausted the shopping scene in that area so I went to the trolley stop. I love riding the trolley. I usually just walk but I had some heavy bags and a huge blister on my foot from my shoe so I thought I’d ride. It’s 100 yen to ride, about 87 cents or so, so it’s really cheap.

When I was at the trolley stop my friend Meghan called and told me that we were going to meet in 30 minutes. That was perfect timing! As soon as I got to the station, maybe 10 minutes later, she was there. We met up with some people that I didn’t know. There were two girls from Australia and a guy from North Carolina. Meghan is from Canada. They needed to go to the 100 yen store so we went walking back to where I had just come from. It was fine with me because I didn’t know about this 100 yen store…it was 5 stories!!! We met another friend of theirs there and then we all went to eat dinner at Rocco’s Burger. It was yummy! We all just chatted and hung out for while until people had to leave for meetings and things. Amy, Bernie (both from Australia), Meghan, and I were left and we had a great little time. They are all here for their second year in Japan.

Pretty soon it was time to head to the bar for the rugby game. The great thing about where I live in Japan is that you can walk everywhere. We walked to the bar and just hung out and watched TV. The first game was New Zealand vs. Italy. New Zealand beat them to a fine pulp. I felt really sorry for Italy. The next game was Australia vs. Japan. The Aussie Bar was filling up with so many Australians and Japanese people. It was so funny to watch and listen to everyone. I learned about rugby…the tries, the conversions, and the scrums. They thought it was hilarious that I knew nothing about rugby and all I could compare it to was football. We will all get together in a few weeks for another game. I told them that I needed a jersey though. haha

Fun night, fun night.

Cleaning House

Cleaning House
September 6, 2007

Yesterday was my short day at work. I always eat lunch there and then come home. Today’s lunch was sushi…not raw fish, mushroom. It was okay for my first Japanese sushi experience but I have to remember that it was school food. What I really wanted to do was go shopping but instead I had to come home and wait for the internet people to come and install the internet in my apartment. While I was waiting, I thought that I better get some work done around here. My apartment was looking pretty dirty. I have been so busy with work and other stuff that I just come in and throw my things down and that’s where they stay. You know how it is.

I first must tell you about my vacuum. It is amazing and I love it. I am trying to think of a way to smuggle it home but I think it would be missed. This thing is so little and lightweight and is on rollers. I drag it around all over the apartment. It has a hose on it too so it gets in all of the little nooks and crannies. I love to vacuum anyway so this just puts it over the top.

While vacuuming yesterday I realized just how small my apartment really is. I never really think about it because I am always alone here. The only person who visits is Tara and the occasional Japanese principal coming to give me something or help me with something (like when I tried to cook with gas for the first time and it went horrible wrong). So anyway, I was vacuuming and it was plugged in at one end of the apartment. I worked my way to the entire other end of the apartment-the FRONT DOOR- and never have to unplug because I ran out of cord. Here’s the kicker—the cord is shorter than the cord on my vacuum at home!

The internet people came later on. They rang my doorbell twice and spoke Japanese. I was told by one of my principals not to let them in, but to call her when they got here. When someone comes to my apartment, the security is pretty tight. You have to scan your hand, have a key or the code to get in, otherwise the glass door will not open. When you ring the doorbell a little camera shows the person to me in my room and I can talk to them and decide if I want to let them in or not. It’s pretty cool and very safe. One of the teachers from my school got here fast with a computer man friend to disconnect the internet that Tara and I had been sharing for the past two months…not exactly legal, but I needed internet.

After that was all finished I was starving so I though I would cook some dinner. I decided that tonight was a good night for tacos! My tacos were pretty good, a little salty, but good. I bought the seasoning, sauce, and shells from the import store. I got cheese and lettuce at the supermarket and I even found sour cream! When I opened the sour cream, it was firm, like frozen yogurt. I tasted it and it was SOUR. It is not the same as at home. I couldn’t eat it, it was way too different. After dinner, early bedtime. Ahhh, nice.

Ophanage Visit

Orphanage Visit
Sunday, September 02, 2007

Today I ventured out on my own for a little trip to an orphanage. I was really having mixed feelings about going since I did not know what to expect or how well the children would be taken care of, but I am so glad that I went and I can’t wait until my next visit.

My adventure started when I had to take the street trolley. I know how to get on, ride it, pay, and get off…but I didn’t exactly know where I was going. I knew which one to get on but I didn’t know how far to ride on it and which stop to get of at. That was the first hurdle I had to jump. I finally showed the trolley driver the email from the person in charge and he figured out that I should get off on the last stop.

I met some people at the stop; they were Western and were going to an orphanage so I knew I had the right group. I recognized a couple of them from previous group outings, although I did not know them well or anything. We chatted until it was time to go.

When we got to the orphanage I saw children just hanging out everywhere. I didn’t expect them to be locked up, but I didn’t know what to expect. It was great. We had brought things to make Filipino shaved ice so we got to work. As we set up, more and more children came around. They were so interested in what we were doing, just like any child, haha.

They children were so cute! They all looked healthy and well taken care of. The building and the people working there were great too. Everyone seemed to take so much pride in their job and they loved these kids. I was worried about what the children would look like (healthy or not, etc.) but I had nothing to worry about. I think I might have more to fear in America.

After we made shaved ice, we ate and played for three hours. We played outside in the hot sun; we played ping pong; we sang karaoke; we played video games. Of course I have a very limited Japanese vocabulary so I could not communicate too well, but I do know many words now and I was able to figure some things out. Also having been in the nursery schools was great for me because I knew many of the Japanese games that these children knew.

The children were fascinated with our cameras and wanted to take pictures. Others wanted to have piggy back rides. A three year old ran up to me and flung his little body into my arms when I waved to him. He just hugged and hugged me and wouldn’t let go. I have a picture of us but it’s on someone else’s camera so I’ll post it later.

I am so glad that I went today. These children are just precious and they need some extra love in their lives. These are not all children who do not have parents; there are some children who have been taken away from their parents for whatever reason. Being there with them, cheering them on while we played games, was something that touched me.

A little Madonna for the kids.

Saturday Night Arcade

Saturday Night Life
Saturday, September 1, 2007

Today proved to be very productive since I lay in the bed most of the day and then just played on my computer afterwards. Tara and I did have dinner plans with some new friends at 6:30 so I ventured to the shower and got ready and then we biked to the station.

The weather seems to have paid attention to the little “Come to Jesus” meeting I had with it…you know the one where you tell it what you want it to do and then it does it? It finally seems to be cooling off a little bit. The mornings and evenings are actually pleasant. We rode to the station and we were not sweating profusely when we got there.

We met our friends at the peach fountain at 6:30. This is a popular spot to meet people here in Okayama. It is right out front of Okayama Station (the big train station downtown). It is always nice to see a group of Westerners. J

We headed off to find food but no one knew of any restaurants. Melissa had heard of a Thai place so we thought we would give it a try. We walked for about ten minutes down to Symphony Hall. I love to go here; it’s like a strip mall. There is a huge bookstore with an English section. If you keep walking past that for awhile you will get to Gucci, Prada, and Channel. Very nice.

There was a very little ally way that we went down and chained up in a doorway was a giant black lab. We went inside this tiny place and up the steepest stairs I have ever climbed. It was ridiculous. Upstairs was a tiny room, and when I say tiny, I mean TINY. There was a long table (shin high) and bean bags and pillows all around it. There were eight of us all together so we all squeezed in. It was snug and cozy but it was really fun.

We ordered many different dishes and then just shared everything. We talked for awhile and just had a great time. I have never really loved Thai food, but this was so good. I would go back here again anytime.

After we paid and left we were not ready to go home. We met a couple more friends and headed toward the karaoke place. In Japan, karaoke is different. You go into a room with the people that you are with and then sing. You don’t get up and sing in a bar or anything. Most of us were game, but there were a few that were not going to sing so when we go there we changed our plans. Next door was a huge arcade. It wasn’t trashy like the ones at home and they had MARIO KART! To play you actually sat in a driver’s seat and used the pedals and steering wheel. The funniest part was that it took your picture and put it on your character. Four people at a time could race each other so we did that for a little while. It’s been two months since I have driven. I’m so embarrassed to admit this, but I honestly was a little rusty on which foot went on which pedal!! haha

Emergency Exit...signs here are ridiculous and make no sense.

MARIO KART
There were a ton of games, but we opted to cram eight people into a photo booth next. It was wild! The booth was really big and it took eight pictures of us. Every picture we took we changed places and acted silly. At the end we got to decorate the pictures with a “Paint” like program. The pictures are hilarious. We each took one home. They were printed on sticker paper too. We had the best time doing this. It was so funny watching eight adults decorate these pictures on the computer.

After the stickers we tried our hand at some other games. We played some intense games of air hockey. Everything was going well until the game shot out three pucks at a time! I started laughing so hard that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to stand up anymore. Tara won. I kept knocking the puck into my own goal…three pucks is just too many!
There was also a game where you played the drums. It was pretty cool. Dennis was playing with the most insane intensity that when he finished, his hand was bleeding! Thank goodness I had a band-aid on hand.
Dennis was tearin' it up...
...and a bloody finger was the result.

These games were great, but the game that I played at the end was the most interesting. I think that we should have it in America. I told them that if all children had this game, maybe there wouldn’t be anymore video game related violence in society…we would all love dogs a little more instead…First you get into the little car. On the screen there is a dog and he is in the car with you. You have to pet and scratch the dog and keep him happy on your car ride. It’s really funny and very different. I actually only played the game to figure out what it was. I’m so glad I did. We were all cracking up as we petted this virtual dog. He would lie down and roll over and things. At the end, a puppy appears with the dog. Weird, huh?

By that time it was close to 11pm so we headed back to the station. Last train is at 12:10 for Tara and me. I’m home now and about to head to bed. I just wanted to tell you all about my game night! Hope your Saturday nights are as fun as mine!


The car and the dogs
Scratching and petting the virtual dog
That puppy loves me.

This is me in a bus game.