Crunky Popjoy

This is the name of the chocolate candy I just ate. I think crunky is supposed to be crunchy.... and popjoy, who knows.

Anyhow, my bike lock is very temperamental as of late. Sometimes it won't lock and therefore I have just been leaving it unlocked and unsupervised. I have been worried that it would be stolen. Today my fears became a reality... I came out of work to go to lunch and my bike was gone! I was shocked! And I thought to myself "you have got to be kidding me!" so I begin to walk home and I see it! By the vending machine, not even half a block away! My bike is rather noisy, so maybe they decided they would steal another one. My lock worked for the rest of the day.

One more bicycle anecdote. The other day it was raining, not just a little, alot. And I had to bike to japanese lessons and work. Luckily it stopped by the time I got downstairs to leave, but I had to bring my umbrella anyway in case it started up again. So I had my umbrella attached to my bike...and of course as I'm biking it slips, and get's stuck in my front wheel. Go figure! It was almost exactly where I ran into the stair case! Que sera sera! I suppose I should stay away from that place!

Things are good! The weekend was good, went in to Hiroshima...which kind of reminds me of St. Louis a little bit, on Sunday and then Yuka came over on Monday. It was fun, she and I talked about how we both miss studying...among other things! She's cool, it's good to have friends.

I bought a bright pink scarf. i like it. because its bright pink.

Molly Does Crazy Things in Japan...

By now many of you have probably heard of my little collision with the staircase.  I was biking to my Japanese lesson, being a bit adventurous and taking a new route, when I came around the corner to see that I was about to crash into a fellow bike rider.  I had no choice but to swerve left as he had already begun to swerve right.  However, directly to my left was a large staircase...which I crashed into. Here is a picture of my bent up basket: it maybe hard to tell, but if you look closely you will see that the side closest to you is dented on both sides...this makes if difficult to put my groceries inside the basket.  Oh well. 

Anyway, more on biking...

Today I rode to work in a pencil skirt and high heels. Cars and people stayed out of my way so it ended up being fine, but at lunch I totally changed back in to flats, that was just an added complication that I'd rather do without. I also learned that that particular skirt is definitely a no no on days when I have floor classes (babies). Sitting on the floor proved rather difficult. 

I leave you with an update on my Japanese lessons:

The day of the collision with the staircase, I was on my way to lessons, as I mentioned.  I got there and my teacher had not arrived, so I take my seat in the international center and begin to read my book, to pass the time. My phone rings.  It's my teacher. She says, "Tomita speaking" and then begins saying things in japanese, I caught "train" and "10:20". Then she begins saying " I'm sorry I'm sorry" I assume she means she has missed the train and can't catch another until 10:20...which by that time would be too late for us to have a lesson, so I said "it's ok" and then leave the international center.  At 10:25 she calls back and speaks in japanese, "Doko desu ka?" meaning "where are you?" I say, in english, I am at the park, but she thinks I mean "Parco" a department store in Hiroshima, I try to explain to her that I am not in Hiroshima, and I'm not shopping, but this proves very muzukashii (difficult).  After much confusion and the final decision to just tell her I'm at work, we reschedule for Friday and I am on my way.  

This is getting crazy!! But I want to learn so bad! EHHH!

ok, time for bed!

His heart was two sizes too small...

Hopefully I will be teaching seminar lessons this winter on How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which is fantastical because I love Dr. Seuss (this is the plan as of today).  However, I must say that for the past several years I have believed that Dr. Seuss was a philosopher.  This is not true.  He went to Oxford to get his doctorate in literature, but he dropped out and got married instead. Thus he was never actually "Dr." anything (this part I knew, which in turn should have made me realize that he clearly was not a doctor of philosophy).  On the other hand, one does not have to hold a doctorate degree to be a great thinker. From this point of view it would be quite possible to argue that Theodor Seuss Geisel was a philosopher, judging by literary themes and his artwork.

Also, I didn't really realize that "Oh the Places You'll Go" was meant to be a book for adults written in the same style as his children's books. Oh the things you can learn by reading biographies.  

On a not so exciting note, my manager told me that I looked sick today.  Seeing as how I'm not sick and thought I actually looked kind of cute today, I wasn't really sure how to take that.  Yesterday she told me that putting my hands in my pockets doesn't look very nice and I shouldn't do that when parents are around. She also told me that I need to make the parents laugh after class (boisterous interaction with children and parents is one of the reasons she hated to two previous native English teachers at the school, so I don't really know what to do about that). I just go with it, we'll see what happens. 

Other than that, school is going pretty well. Students are still good, however they are starting to get pretty comfortable with me...which for some is good and others is bad (acting up, etc.). No big plans for the weekend, mostly just relaxing, and laundry.  I seriously need to do laundry so bad! Eek!

Kure Fall Festival

Yesterday I went back to the fall festival.  It was so much fun! I won some gold fish, which I let some of my students name (Aoi, Shion, and Kanon). They named them Blacky, Orangey, and Brownie.  I'm not sure where Brownie came from since 2 are orange and 1 is black, but hey, whatever works. 

The people I went with bought me a bowl, some food, and water purifiers for a gift.  Gift giving is so common here and I don't always know how to respond. It's so nice of them. I mean they had already spent the whole day showing me the festival and teaching me about it and not making me pay for anything, and introducing me to people. It was fantastic! 

I met a member of the Japanese Diet... part of parliament, I wasn't sure how to act! But he just shook  my hand and didn't make me bow. 

During the festival there was  big fight between a  "Lion, dog thingy" (this is how Ayumi explained it too me) and the ooni and then there was a man on top of something that other men were holding and they had to barge through the ooni and get into the shrine. It was difficult to watch because there were so many people, so my pictures aren't great, but it was still fun!  I also got to pick my fortune which said in learning, I should set a goal of some sort, I could have an easy birth (so applicable...I just laughed and said well, thats good, but I won't be needing that), I shouldn't move, the place I am in is good, and I should hold off on investing money in the stock exchange. Since it wasn't considered to be an excellent fortune you are to fold it up and tie it too a tree. So I did. SOO cool! I also touched an ooni for good luck. I'll have to put that picture up later though I have to get it  from Ayumi and Midori's dad.  It was amazing.

I thought of a great name for this entry but I forgot it...

Have I mentioned that I'm loving Japan? 

This weekend is Kure Fall Festival.  It's when all the people go to the shrine to thank the gods for a good harvest. There are also "ooni" (japanese ghosts/demons) that walk around the city with large sticks that they hit people with.  If you get hit, it means you will have good fortune and health for the next year.  This morning I was in class with my Tiny Talk class, the kids are probably  4 years old, and I hear drums and flute coming down the street.  The kids get super excited and I say "What's that? Let's look!" so we all run to the window and Ryousuke starts screaming "ooni! ooni!" the boys thought it was awesome, but one little girl ran to the middle of the room and just said "no, no, no" She was so scared, it was cute.  

Tonight Manager, Bryan and I went to the night market.  Which is like Japan + Shinto (a religion) + DuQuoin State Fair - the rides. I tried takoyaki which is a ball of tako (octopus) and vegetables.  It was so hot it burned my mouth and it wasn't really my thing.  Not big on the texture of fish.  We also got to watch the traditional Japanese dance performed for the gods. It was amazing! I took pictures, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to put them up so I will have more of the festival. 

Then we went out for a drink at the "Gaijin (foreigner)  Bar" which is actually named Memories. The bar tender speaks English so that is quite handy. His Irish girlfriend was there, so I made a foreigner friend.  They were both super nice. I'll definitely be going back there. 

Well, I suppose I should be getting to bed here pretty soon, since it is 1:30 am. 

later gator.

Crunchy rice

So apparently I am titling my posts after what I am eating at the moment. Yesterday noodles, today rice. My rice is still a little crunchy...just a few grains, not all of them.  I guess I didn't have enough water in there.  OH well.  I also just at fried mashed potatoes and corn.  I'll take a picture to show. but seriously. fried mashed potatoes and corn. Holden would be in heaven. Work was fine today. Some of my kids were little boogers. but thats typical.  One of my kids was 30 minutes late and then for his twenty minute lesson he decided to play soccer and hid under the table. it was awesome. 

I also got to stamp things and fold and stuff things.  It was like being at Greenville all over again.  

I've decided I miss learning. I need some psychology/philosophy/religion books asap.  My Murakami books are great, but I'm going to need some non-fiction soon I can feel it.  Hopefully our bookstore has some...or I can find one in Hiroshima.  If not, I guess its japanese amazon!

I heard about this used bookstore in Tokyo. I can't wait to go. its going to be amazing! I'm so pumped, but Tokyo's like 10 hours and a couple hundred bucks away.  So its not like i can do that every weekend. =) 

Eating Noodles with Chopsticks...

I just finished eating noodles with chopsticks. I'm getting better, but it's still quite hard to eat with chopsticks. I mean seriously. 

Today, work was fun. We had all special lessons because it was a Working Day. So.. Shion, Aoi, and myself played games like "Have you ever..." and "If I were..." it was fun! Then I had Misato...we pretended we were going hiking.  We saw many things, such as a river, a waterfall, and a monkey. My last student was Ayumi, she and I did "Mad Libs". I gave her the papers to keep other wise I would post what we wrote in class. It was really funny. For instance, one took place at Disney Land and Ayumi and her friend Allie drove for 2 hours on a bus to get to this blue park, but they thought things were just a little to red.  There were also people dressed in Red Panda costumes it was fun.  

I also got invited to dinner and the festival next week, both should be fun. A lot of my kids are involved in the festival so it will be cool to see them!  

It rained all day today after I got to work. It's still raining now. I like the rain, it's only rained a few times since I've been in Japan. Usually just a little bit of rain. No typhoons yet. 

Well, this has been considerably boring.  Looks like I need to have another adventure. I'll just have to get up early and do it in the morning I suppose. But every time I leave my house I some how end up shopping somewhere. I don't understand.  

ok, I'm going to make some tea.

heiwa ,

molly

My First Blog

Hello everyone! 

I thought perhaps it was time to start a blog, it just seems like the right thing do. Anyhow, I'm starting to feel better, my voice has come back a bit, this is very good, since I have to teach tomorrow! We have two working days in a row which means no group lessons (unless they are make ups) I also have 2 lessons with one of my students and his sister.  Their mom came up with the curriculum. its really strange the way parents act at my school... they are very concerned with their children learning English.  After every class we tell the parents what we did and most of them come in with their notebooks and pencils to write down everything we did that day.  It's quite intimidating! 

I didn't do a whole lot today, just tried to take it easy and get some rest.  I did, however, go to this little coffee place, it was nice. It's called Golden Burns.  I think the man that was sitting next to me was a bit scared of me.  Every time I moved, he moved. And then he started humming to himself, but it wasn't a song.  It was weird.  But oh well. 

Ok, I'm going to try to post something everyday, we'll see how good I am at that. 

Love you all!