The End of the Road.

I think I'm going to end my online journal experience.  I thought that by keeping links to my blog hidden from co-workers that no one would find it but alas my stats show that people in japan are reading it.  And I can't be sure that co-workers haven't found it.  (I've also got viewers in Canada, India, China, Australia, and Denmark!  Actually other than Japan and America I have gotten a lot of hits in denmark.  I'm really popular out there I guess, Whatup DENMARK?!)  But yeah unless anyone has any suggestions I think I'm going to write for my own viewing pleasure.  Not that I want to talk crap about my coworkers or anything but I'd rather write about my time here unfiltered.  And I'm bound to filter it if I know people I work with are reading.

It really sucks actually because I've heard from so many people that they really enjoy reading about my experiences and not to stop.  Ughh  Maybe some people in Japan were searching for blogs about japan and found mine?  Maybe this blog is co-worker free?  Oh well.  See you on Facebook friends : b

Daijōbu? Daijōbu? (Are you okay?)

    Japan is definitely testing my optimism.  Last weekend on Saturday I decided to go on a really long bike ride to explore.  Find new places to go, possibly some nightlife bars or something to hit up.  I found this AMAZING park.  Its in a reviene (how the hell do you spell that word??) along a stream.  Just a long streatch of a track/field for people to go run or play some kind of sport (most likely soccer.)  I brought a blanket with me on this bike ride because I wanted to find a new park where I could sprawl out in the sun and listen to music.  Or write.  Or just think about some of these amazing experiences.  I wanted to read but all my books are on my computer and there's nothing here to read in english. : (  So I'm laying there looking at the stream.  Looking at these beautiful clouds surrounded by a crisp blue and a deep blue line of jagged mountains encirling me.  Keeping the transition from earth to sky a very well known one.  Saturday was gorgeous.  I decided to  keep riding.  I found downtown Kofu which is awesome.  so much to do here.  This is where we went for our kindergarten welcoming party the weekend before and that restaurant was SOO nice.  I loved everything about it.  The traditional sit on the floor style (not literally the floor but these built in booths on the floor)  the japanese dividers with paper windowed in.  The food was amazing, I tried so many new things ("Eww they have horse!!" - Nalette  haha we didnt try horse dont worry... but they had it!)  But anyway I'm riding around downtown Kofu when I get hit by a car. : (  I'm laying in the street a little baffled at what just happened.  This car came out so fast i didn't have any time to react.  I see that there are cars at a stoplight coming at me so i jump up and move my bike.  This woman still hasnt come out of her car yet.  haha I wonder if she was going to try to drive away but I was right in her way. Maybe she was just gathering her composure I don't know.  But after a minute she jumps out "Daijōbu?  Daijōbu?"  I'm so annoyed.  My bike is still half way in the street and she's not helping me move it to the side walk or anything.. she's just in my way.  And I can't understand whatever she's talking at me frantically.  Spastically.  Saying it over and over. "I only know English."  As I gently move her out of my way.  Put the bike back on the sidewalk.  I'm rubbing my knee because thats the only thing that hurts.  Fuck my life.  Seriously.  I'm sooo pissed off.  I was having a good day after a morning of painful homesickness.  I feel like everytime I pick myself up and get happy again someone throws something else at me.  Last year I came up with this theory about life.  haha Not a serious one but something I though was amusing.  The universe is so vast I dont rule out the idea of intelligence out there.  I definitely wouldn't be surprised if there's a species out there WAYYY more intelligent than our own.  And maybe they just watch us out of curiosity.  I used to be so lucky and I thought maybe these "aliens"  have favorite people.  Maybe if you lead an interesting life that they enjoy watching they throw good things at you so they have an even better time watching you.  Funny eh?  Next time you find a $20 bill on the ground thank our extra terrestrial neighbors because they were curious about what you'd spend it on. ; )  Wellllll my friends definitely are pissed about my decision to move to Japan "You think you're going to have a good time in Japan eh?  Well we want you back in America.  Here's an earthquake and tsunami.  Some radiation!  THE FLU.  No not enough?  Ok have this 50 year old Japanese woman hit her with a car."  Well I've bounced back from my last Saturday mishap!  bring it.

No but back to the accident.  I'm rubbing my knee walking on it, making sure I'm ok.  She's still talking at me frantically trying to bend my bike basket into the shape of a basket. When the basket looks more like a basket and she can't bend it anymore she turns her attention to me. To my knee which I'm obviously putting all my attention into.  She hit me straight on my right and my left knee hit the road.  I want to say I'm lucky because this whole incident could have been way worse.  Those cars who were stopped at that stoplight... if they weren't...  My knee was fine it felt slightly bruised.  I wasn't even limping.  My new pants weren't even ripped.  They're bright too. HOW DID YOU NOT SEE ME YOU STUPID WOMAN?  Now I turn my attention to my bike.  Which is the second priority to my body.  Right?  Uhhh lady, if my knee was cracked I could care less what shape the fucking basket was in.  You could have made it into a panda and I would still sue you.  She was acting like if the bike was fine no one would know or something.  "Hospital?"  She says this looking at me concerned.  I understand what she must be feeling too.  Hitting anyone with a car... thats going to emit some universal emotions.  I'm being a bitch writing things like "stupid woman" and stuff because she was obviously concerned... but I was REALLY pissed off obviously. I decline on the hospital.  My knee is fine and I REALLY don't want to spend the rest of my weekend dealing with this.  A Japanese guy on a bike rode over and told her she needed to move her car off the sidewalk.  She left it in the sidewalk she just plowed me off of.  He stayed there.  So there was a witness.  The bike is fine.  The basket was the main victim in the accident.  She backs her car up a little bit and is about to jump out when the guy yells at her in japanese.  He's telling her to park it propperly.  So she's pulling around back into her parking spot.  I take a little ride on my bike.  Completely fine.  Seriously LUCK.  I'm amazed at how lucky I am for not getting seriously hurt.  Unlucky it happened at all.  But whatever.  I debate one last time whether or not to call melony.  But decide against it.  I'm fine the bikes basket just needs to be hammered out in one spot and I can forget this ever happened.  Which is what I want.  I don't want police to come, bureaucracy.  I don't want any of it.  I wave the woman off.  She still looks worried, concerned, scared.  I decide to end my day here.  I don't want to explore anymore.  I don't want to be here at all.

My knees mildly sore as I ride home.  An uncomfortable reminder of what just happened.  Of how it could have been worse.  I can't even control it.  Tears are flying off my face.  I feel a pitty party for myself.  How I want to be among friends and family.  How I'm riding home on this route that I concentrated so hard on.  Every turn I had to make mental images of what was around.  Because I can't read anything.  Because the way they label there streets are stupid and doesn't make sense.  They label both dirrections with the same street name.  Stupid fucking country.  How do you know which road you're turnin on when you're at the corner of Alps Dori and Alps dori?  I don't even want to learn your reasoning.  It's moronic. I'm confused as to why I'm crying so hard because I'm not in any pain.  It's like they were building up inside me.  Little things that I push aside because I don't see a point on focusing on things I don't like.  Things I can't change.  Things that if I dwell on...  well dwelling on them isn't going to do anything.  Just maybe make me a little sad.  They all surfaced with this collision.  I think about how my life would have been if I decided to flee right after the tsunami.  Where would I have gone?  Denver?  Asheville?  Portland? L.A?  I would have been in Ft. Lauderdale deciding. Saving up for whatever move.  I would have felt like a child under my parents roof.  A degree but still serving.  Maybe I would have applied to festivals as a photographer.  Traveled the U.S. doing what I love most among my closest friends.  Whatever I would have done I knew that I'd always have the "What if I had stayed in Japan..." in the back of my mind.  Which is inevitably why when I found out my prefecture is radiation free, I stayed.  I don't want to live with that what if.  No regrets Little Mesa, no regrets.  I didn't stop the crying.  Even though I know the Japanse people driving by all look, all curious about foreigners.  (I didn't realize how much foreigners stuck out until Nori took Nalette and I downtown to get our Visa's I'm glued to the window as usual looking at everything I can and I see a foreigner riding his bike.  I spot him from his back.  It's SOOOO obvious.  Nalette even said "Foreigner!"  haha I didn't realize how much I stuck out till then.) They all saw me crying that day on my bike.  I didn't care.  Like I'd ever see them again anyway.  I just let it come.  I didn't want any of it inside me anymore.  After this car accident thats it.  No more pity party.  So I focused on whatever I didn't like.  I came to terms with all of it.  And after 10 min I felt fine.  A little solemn, but ok.

I decided to go into a mall.  Blast my ipod.  Walk around and look at what these stores had to offer. 
There was a traditional Komono store.  The fabrics are all silk and gorgeous.  I would never want to wear a komono.  They make even the prettiest women look o.k. at best. haha head to toe coverage.  Not that you need to show skin to be pretty or anything. But it's just too modest.  Just like this culture.  WOW.  the modesty.  And I'm a huge fan of modesty.  Arrogance is my biggest turn off.  But this culture... its kind of ironic actually.  I came here to focus on some of my faults that I didn't like and try to make them better.  (One of my many reasons for coming out here actually)  But I've never understood why I can be so insecure and apologetic.  It annoys me.  Why can't I think I'm awesome and come to terms with little things I do instead of dwell on them and think bad things about myself?  I know most people dont do this and I HATE that I do.  But its really ironic because this culture is a very insecure and apologetic culture. Seriously  "Sumimasen" Which means "pardon me"  is used all the time.  Or "Gomen'nasai"  'I'm sorry" Is used before things that you would never be sorry for in the U.S. Pretty funny that what I'm working on here is the norm.  Anyway, Komonos aren't something worn all the time or anything.  Just really special occasions.  Like the graduation two weeks ago. Our principal and one of the kindergartners graduating both wore them.  It's awesome to see in person the perfect drapery of these fabrics.  But I'm looking at these fabrics in the store and the pictures that customers must have given to the store of themselves all dolled up in these komonos.  So strange.  I start to leave when I see four employees shining at me.  Seriously.  Smiling so big staring at me.  Waving talking really kind tones of Japanese at me.   They probably aren't used to a foreigner in their store. I wave and smile back really big.  A genuine smile too.  After all that stress this kindness is really appreciated.

Nalette and Megumi wanted to hang out that night which by the time I got home and ate dinner I really wasn't feeling up to doing anything.  I wanted to wallow and watch t.v.  haha.  How depressing on a saturday night huh?   But when they called and I told them what happened they insisted on coming over to check on me.  So nice.  So they came over and I explained what happened and how the woman just kept saying one phrase over and over to me.  But I didn't know what it was.  "ummm Daijōbu?  Daijōbu?"  Megumi did it with the same concern and everything. "YES!  That was it!"  "She was asking if you were Ok."  "ahh makes sense."  They were really concerned even after I kept saying I was fine.  We all were contemplative on whether I should tell Melony.  But in the end we decided I should on Monday.  Just to let her know.  When I did she was surprised I didn't just call her.  "I REALLY appreciate your independent onward thinking but really if anything like that happens again  don't hesitate to call.  What if your knee ends up swelling up or something?  We have no way of getting a hold of that woman and you'd have to pay for it."  I knew this.  Thats why I made sure I moved my knee in all directions, really if I felt any kind of sharp pain I wouldn't have hesitated.... but I guess I should have just to be sure.  Whatever it's been a week now and I'm ok.

Megumi and Nalette hung out for a bit that night.  And the next day Nalette and I hung out with Rachael and Joji (rachael's French/Japanese boyfriend)  We went to this AMAZING pie bakery.  The inside was Sooo adorable like a french cafe almost, with dainty things all over.  Audry Hepburn Pictures scattered.  For lunch they have different flavored quiches and it comes with a salad that changes daily and your choice of coffee and tea.  Then you have fresh pie for dessert.  This was GREAT.  Its so close to my new apartment too! (I moved this week.  I'll post pictures of my apartment soon... AHHH I'm obsessed with it.  It's so big and cozy.  I LOVE IT.  And all the doors are sliding doors.  Just like I had seen in pictures of Japan in the states.)  When Ryan and Lindsey come in June we are definitely doing brunch here.  Because I know they'll love it as much as I do.  That night Nalette and I hung out with Carolina and Diana and Tuere.  hehe girls night was awesome.  Some guy talk. haha not that we're all like boy crazy or anything but when you work non stop with women and any interaction with Japanese guys is pretty... uhhh non existent... Well we're going to talk.  Nalette was talking about her disappointment in lack of hot foreigner guys.  Diana and Tuere laughed "umm stereotypes of foreign guys that come to Japan:  A. Anime/video game/technology geeks. B.  Guys that have fantasies of asain girls.  C.  Guys that can't get with girls in their own countries and know that Japanese girls LOVE foreigners."  Couldn't have said it better myself.   But Nalette's been to a foreigner bar in Tokyo and said she wants to go back because she scoped out some guys there.  Nalette and Carolina don't find any Japanese attractive because most are so thin.  They'd feel bigger or something.
Though Carolina told Diana "Something ALMOST happened yesterday at the club."
Diana-"NO WAYYYY WHAT?"
Tuerre cracking up "UHH no.  Nothing almost happened yesterday.  There was a really hot, built Japanese-Brazilian guy with a mohawk that Carolina saw and I asked if she wanted to go talk to him and she said 'NOooooo Look at what I'm wearing'"
 "WE WEREN'T DRESSED TO GO TO A CLUB.... ALL OF THOSE GIRLS WERE DRESSED UP IN BOOTY SKIRTS/SHORTS AND HEALS... I was in sneakers he would have felt awkward."
"He wouldn't have cared.  And if he did then whatever, a guy who likes you when you aren't dolled up is a guy worth having."
I agreed with Tuerre "yeah you aren't always going to be in heels and makeup huh?"
Diana's been dating a japanese guy for eight months.  Tuerre and Diana turned their attention to me "You have yellow fever?"  "Uhh..."  I'm going through things I've heard here trying to think what the heck this is.  "What's that?"  They all crack up.... I'm thinking about what this possibly could be.  "You into asains?"  Ohhhhhhh "Umm I've definitely seen attractive guys out here.  Which I wasn't expecting, I wasn't really attracted to any of the asains I had met in the states. But I don't know... its not like I can speak to any of them anyway.  Its not my main objective."  They all seem smitten with the idea of trying to set me up or something... which I'm not into at all.  What an awkward way to meet someone, I'm a big girl I can speak for myself. ; )  I'm already really smitten anyway.

But Tuerre and I talked for a long time that sunday.  She's AWESOME.  She's met so many friend out here.  She told me how to use the train bus system to get to my festival I want to go to in May.  She also went to a lot of Reggae shows in Tokyo which I'm SOO down to do.  I love some good reggae.  And since she's from Jamaica she KNOWS good reggae.  She told me about this penis festival thats held outside of Tokyo every year. "Seriously it's worth going to." She showed me this website for it and it looks RIDICULOUS.  Its a celebration of the penis.  For all ages.  People wearing penis hats.  Penis decorations EVERYWHERE.  People walking around sucking on lolipops shaped as vaginas and penis's.  I'm going to have to make a whole post dedicated to sexuality in Japan because it's SOOO different than what Americans are used to.  This penis festival would be for like dominatrix freaks or something in the U.S. but here it's like a celebration of fertility and they aren't embarrassed of it.  They even have their young embrace it.  Google Japan penis festival and you can see pictures of this crazy thing.

She told me about this website specifically for foreigners in Japan you sign up and they have events like three times a month you can go to if you want.  So I'm going to sign up.  But tonight she's having a goodbye party that Nalette, Megumi, Yoko, Mariko and I are going to.  And all of Tuerre's friends she's made out here.  Which is a lot.  I'm excited to go and branch out.  Come get some Elise love please!  I want more friends than just people I work with.  I love all the people I work with but I know spending ALLL my time with them is going to be annoying eventually.  Ohhh Nalette said a friend she made in February is going paragliding sometime this month.  So I think I'm going to go paragliding!!  Heckkkk yeah.

Oh and one of my favorite artists in America Zach Deputy contacted me on facebook asking for some of my bear creek pictures for this band advertising thing.  : )!!  YESSSS.  I love positive feedback on my work.  ESPECIALLY from artists I love and care about.  So much love.

Umm I know I started this post all negative.  I just wanted to emit the feelings I had last Saturday.  It's been really good since then.  Nalette said "Bad things come in threes so you've had your three, from here on out you're in the clear."  I hope she's right.  I'm just proud of my unwavering optimism.  I just really hope its not tested anymore. : (  I've gone through waves of depression in the states a couple years ago and DON'T want one to come out here.  I'm going to go finish unpacking my stuff.  My Saturday:  Skype dates, writing this blog, unpack, hoop, bike downtown with nalette and explore.  Then party with some new peeps.  My Sunday:  I'm going to bike into the mountains.  Before Rachael left I told her I wanted to bike into the mountains and she said I should I'm going to see Monkeys!!!  AHHHHHh hehe.  So yeah My sunday is devoted to me time and my photography.  I also have this awesome Little Mesa Japan logo idea I'm going to make.  Lovely weekend ahead of me.

I'm never going to forget what daijōbu means.  It's instilled in me now.

Revel in the ups.

It's been a really good day.  I haven't been training at E.P. this week so Mariko has been taking me home.  Today when she came into where I was making crafts to tell me it's time to go she giggled and said "Why do you look so happy?"  I didn't even realize I was smiling until she said it... "It's just been a really good day."  "hehe I'm glad Elise!  Time to go."  I have my days.  But these last two have been great.  I always try to soak them in especially since Tuesday and my last Friday at work were pretty "eh".  I was wondering if I'm up to acting so peppy ALL the time at work when kids can be rude and annoying sometimes.  It's tough honestly.... and I'm a pretty peppy person.  But after leaving today I can happily say I've won over most there little hearts.  When I was saying goodbye to Kizuna today: "BYE Kizu-chan!  See you tomorrow! ::Big hug and kiss::"  "Noo Elisei (Eli-say... she can't quite pronounce my name)  Come home with me!!"  "Ohhh I'd love to, but I have to stay and work!  I'll see you tomorrow though?"  "Ohhhh kayyy."  It's awesome.  I love them so much.  But there are a couple that hate me for some reason.  Maybe its because when they're telling me to go away or I'm yucky haha I just leave.  I want to say "shut up you brat"  But I think that leaving the room or just ignoring them completely is a better idea. You know... so I have a job the next day.  I guess I should be trying harder with these kids but its harder than you think to keep trying when they're shouting at you "NO THANK YOU."  or  "EWWWW YOU'RE GROSSS GO AWAY"  I just stand there like "huh.. you are extremely unpleasant to be around so I'm going to choose to not be near you."  Buttttt back to the good days right? 

Yesterday at play time there was a little boy Eiia (EEE-AYY) who's name tag didn't say Eiia it said ninja.  I saw this and started laughing.  "Ninja?! I had no idea we had a ninja!"  Nalette starts laughing too"Yeah,  his mom says that some days he shouts that he doesn't want to go to school, so to get him to come she says 'you can go as a ninja' and he decides to go."  HEllll yeah I'd go to work everyday super excited if I was a ninja.  So I decided to be a ninja with him.  Mirei gave me a scarf and I tied it around my nose and mouth ninja style and crept around the kindergarten doing ninja kicks and tucks.   Mirei, who's DEFINITELY one of my biggest fans there was following me and explaining to all the other kids that I was a ninja... in case explanation was necessary.  I thought not.  With my moves anyone could tell, yup she's most definitely a ninja.  I decided yesterday to break out the little kids hula hoops.  The play room was pretty empty except for some of the little kids and becky playing Restaurant.  So I bring out like 3 little hoops and this one weird hoop thats slightly bigger than the others but still really small with these like hand grips all over it?  Well the little kid hoops are impossible for me to keep up.  I can like do basic hand tricks with them but thats it.  The weird hand grip one I can keep up on my waist and vortex and jump through.  But its too small and light to move down my legs or do around my chest.  So I start hooping and vortexing and all of a sudden I have all the teachers and little kids in the playrom staring at me.  haha I feel pretty stupid actually because its a little hoop and I can't do too much with it, but considering I'm the only one there that can even keep a hoop up on their waist everyone's pretty impressed. I do a little 5 minute show and all the little kids want to hoop so I go back into the closet and bring them all out.  Theres like 10 kids trying to keep it up on their waists.  They're trying sooooo hard. haha I keep just encouraging them "Good job Sora!  You almost did it!" So all in all we did this for like 10 min and I feel stupid for even bringing them out though Becky was like "We should have just left all the restaurant stuff put away and you could have just hooped with them to make them happy!"  I decide to wait till I know some more tricks and then I'll bring my hoop in and really blow them away : )  But I was wrong.  Today halfway through playtime/recess Mami came running up to me "Elise sensei!!  Hoop again please!!"  hehe I should have just brought my hoops in today... but I'm going to tomorrow.  I tried again with that awkward one.  I can vortex really good with it now considering how strange it's shape is.   But I can't wait to bring my light up one for them to see.  They're going to love it.... I can do way more with my hoop than the school's. But yeah I had a group of like 10 kids trying their hardest to keep it up.  Two are really close, Mami and Sora (pronounced like Soda)  So I'm hoping that when I bring in this little taped one I made while I was here that they'll be able to keep it up, because its a little heavier and sometimes just a little weight will make all the difference. 

Today and Yesterday were my first tries at teaching at the kindergarten too.  Up till yesterday I'd just been watching Rachael and Becky.  I was super nervous because I was pretty awkward teaching at E.P.  But I was surprised how good I did.  I picked it up really fast!  I was super energetic and animated and I had all of their attention the whole time! (Again it sounds easier than it is..  These kids have attention spans like flies, so you have to pretend EVERY LITTLE THING you do is the coolest most interesting thing in the world.  LOOK AT ME I'M PICKING UP THIS PEN AHHHH SO COOOOOL!")  hehe but yeah Yoko and Rachael both told me I did an awesome job for my first time.  Eeeek  I was nervous for nothing. ; )

Monday we had off because it was a Holiday.  A japanese Holiday celebrating the coming of Spring.  Its also a day where the Japanese go to temples and mourn/pray for the dead.  (Kind of like the Mexican day of the dead?)  Yoko invited me to dinner at her families house.  I was really excited to accept her invitation, not knowing what to expect.  A japanese feast?  Is it going to be her entire extended family?  How big is this holiday in their culture?  I had no idea but wanted to find out.  Well Yoko picked me up and Nalette was in the car.  Awesome!  It's nice to have another foreigner because there is a huge language gap.  Yoko knows a lot of English after living in New Zealand but still has to ask me to rephrase a lot because she doesn't understand.  Well the meal wasn't a huge feast or anything.  It was just her immediate family (Mom, dad, and sister... who's my age.  Yoko is 26 and so is Nalette) and we had this meal called Okonamiyaki. SOOO good.  I'm going to describe it... and probably not do the description justice but here it goes.  Its a cabbage, pork, egg, pancake dish?  hahah  Its topped with this sauce that I'm not sure exactly what it is and Japanese mayo (which is a million times better than american mayo if you've had spicy mayo at a Japanese restaurant you know what I'm talking about.)  They made four different versions of it.  All with the initial ingredients I just listed but then some additional ones.  One had some noodles added to it, another had kimchee, and one had squid.  I think the fourth had noodles again.  I'm going to try to make this soon because they told me how.  I'll let you know how it goes.  But Yoko's family is really really nice.  They have an adorable dog too.  It was a dachshund but it had the hair of a golden retriever.  And its face looked like a little narrow golden retrievers.  So sweet.  hehe her name was Hime (he-may) which is a japanese princess.   Her dad knew the most english after Yoko because he lived in Nebraska for 6 years.  So he knew a good amount.  Yoko's sister was stunning, really really stunning.  They call her a city girl since she lives in Tokyo and is really fashionable.  Nalette says that I need to go to Tokyo soon (I know... really) because i'm going to be shocked with their fashion. "I felt underdressed when I went... these women know how to dress."  Yoko's sister started dancing at one point when music came on t.v. and was awesome!  haha she really broke it down, this one move where she touched the floor and did this hip sway thing was like a dance I'd never seen before!  haha really really funny/great stuff. Nalette said "I'm going to have to tell Becky I saw a Japanese girl with moves, because she's convinced the Japanese have no rhythm."  Her mom was really quiet but an awesome host.  She made the dinner and served us such good coffee and dessert after.  Nice night really.

This post is going to be jumping all over the place.  But I was getting bored of typing out every single day and then that routine.  So I'm just going to write about what was most memorable.

Tuesday Melony took me downtown to get my foreigners card.  It was a nice break in the day.  We were talking about how I like japan so far.  Maybe its because its all so new, but I LOVE a lot of their culture over ours.  I kind of feel like a traitor to America haha but I would love it if we adopted some of their ways.  ((Really all of this stuff is MY opinion I apologize in advance if you find it offensive... but I'm really open minded and my thoughts do change... so I'm going to write freely about this stuff now. I'm not going to pretend that in a couple months my opinions might be different, I've only lived here for about a month.))  But
I was telling her how I really enjoy how communal this country feels.  It's seriously on the other spectrum of America.  In America it feels like everyone is very self centered.  ESPECIALLY coming from a college town.... WOW what a difference it is going from college kids who are all into their own looks, their own plans for the weekend, their own jobs, me me me me me.  To a country that's focused on the bigger picture.  Their role in society as apposed to their singular life.  Their job isn't just a job in order to gain money to gain objects for themselves,  their job is an important function for their country.  I really enjoy this probably because it's so new, I might get sick of it... but I might not who knows.  Really what would be best is a happy medium.  I wonder if that's how Europe is.  I want to live there and find out.  But for now I think this lifestyle is really nice for me.  It's helping me think about the bigger picture.  I came out here to get my head focused.  To find out what is most important to me and to find out if this dream I'm about to work my ass off for is a dream that I really want.  I really hadn't anticipated making myself less self centered along the way.... but I'm definitely going to embrace it.  It's funny because I think the religions of these country's reflect what the country stands for too.  Catholicism and Christianity have the idea that if YOU believe YOU yourself is saved.  It brings it back to the individual.  Where as Buddhism is about living in harmony with everyone around you.  I'm not going to talk about religion anymore... Especially since I've only taken religion classes on western religion and don't know enough about Buddhism to hold any kind of argument or anything.  While I'm out here I would like to learn more about it though.  I find religion extremely interesting.  But I like to learn about it as an observer almost.... not as a participant, because i don't know which one is right.  I've kind of formed my own beliefs through studying some religion classes in college.  I like Taoism the most but label myself as agnostic.

In the car ride with Melony she acted surprised I jumped to these opinions in sucha short stay.  (I really couldnt tell if it was a "wow thats awesome" surprised or a  "hey kid- slow your roll" surprised) But she put her own input "Aaron's Mom (aaron's her husband) never understood why in all place's we chose Japan.  She's never even come out to visit, so of course she wouldn't understand.  Japan's beautiful and we found a company that's given us security we wouldn't have in America. Japan's such a nice place to raise your kids too, in a lot of ways it's such an innocent country.  The crime just isn't there.  I just read about kids in America that are soaking tampons in Vodka and then inserting them in to get drunk and pass breathelizer tests.  Even the boys are putting them in their butts!" (This really disgusted me.) "haha yeah thats absurd.  But don't think that's youth these days in America... that's not common teenagers doing that. Really I've never heard of anyone getting drunk that way"  She must have such a skewed veiw of America now-a-days from reading little tid bits about it here and there.  Just like I had a skewed view of Japan before I came out here and saw it for myself.  "But kids in america are seeming to grow up faster than they should.  You're right.  Have you heard about Bratz dolls?" hahah I told her about bratz because I remember how disgusting I found them.  I still don't understand why parents got those things for their kids.  "But don't get me wrong, Japan's not perfect.  I was walking in a bookstore the other day and there was a big animated school girl moving her underwear to the side showing everything boobs hanging out and water squirting everywhere.  And Japanese business men.... I've only heard stories but it's custom for Japanese business men to go to these places with co-workers or host them to future clients and practically cheat on their wives."  "Like strip clubs?"  "Yeah but worse, I don't want to go into detail but tricks with beer bottles....And all of it is really expensive"  This conversation led to only curiosity.  It definitely made me feel bad for Japanese women... to just be expected to let their husbands go out and "practically cheat"  I don't know what that is.  Somewhere in between a strip club and actually cheating I guess.  Soooooo yeah all countries have there flaws. hahah

So since I haven't had to go to E.P. and train my afternoons have been spent making crafts for my new students.  I'm so excited, my classroom is going to look awesome!  I hope I have the sky class because I'd much rather make hot air balloons and kites and swirly clouds than boats and crabs... though a big octopus might be cool, or a mermaid.  But right now I'm making these feather name tags.  They're turning out soo pretty.  hehe I love just being able to sit back and listen to my Ipod (ughh Today I've been listening to emancipator and I just think how happy I'd be to get married to him and have him play beautiful melodies and put me to sleep everynight.  I've seen him play twice now and he's soooooooo CUTE and dreamy.  hehe I have a big monster crush on him.) and craft.  AND get paid for it all.  I'm able to design and hoop and play all day.  What have I lucked into?

Tooth aches, head aches, dragons, and earth quakes.

Well last week started off to snow and being lost downtown in a new city.  Let me catch you up on the rest of the week:

On Tuesday I went on another field trip, this time with the youngins; Sky and ocean classes.  This was their first big field trip 45 minutes away.  They’re finally old enough at four to all hold their bladders for that long and take a bus ride without being too rowdy. In Japan schools all have their children uniformly topped with the same color hats so you can easily identify which little ones belong where.  All the hats come with little flaps to protect their tiny necks from the sun.  And the parents of these kids all put patches and sew on some of the childrens interests into the hats so the kids are all capped the same but differently.  In our school a lot of the kids have their names in English on the hats.  The Sky and Ocean kids all where little blue hats.  Last Friday when I went with the Forest kids on their field trip they were all in Green hats. (Green-forest, star- yellow, sky and ocean-blue)  Any way Jimmy cho (that’s the schools maintenance guy/bus driver) drove Becky, Rachel, Yoko, Mariko, the kids and I into the mountains far aways away from B.B.K.  The bus ride there consisted of the teachers all leading the kids in songs and reading them books to keep them happily entertained so they wouldn’t get antsy and cause trouble.  Most of this was lead by Becky being EXTREMELY animated to the point where Mariko once asked if she wanted to calm down and have another teacher take over so she’d have energy for the park.  Becky replied with a “Nope, I’m good” And continued reading “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly” complete with different voices for each animal she swallowed.  All in sing song.  She’s crazy haha but the kids don’t let their attention stray.

            When we get to the park way up in the mountains I’m excited along with the little ones to see what this park has in store.  The last park I went to on Friday was pretty crazy with like 5 different elaborate jungle gyms.  We park the bus and climb up the mountain, the kids in pairs holding hands with their buddies or teachers.  The playground was massive.  All built into the mountain having jungle gyms everywhere.  One all metal bars in the shape of a rocket.  4 different types of see saws.  A giant roller slide like the one I encountered and loved at the other park.  A HUGE bar tunnel creeping up the mountain 40 or 50 ft long.  Letting the kids creep through tunnels then guiding them on top of bars above the ground.  Then down below again.  And a metal hedge maze.  Another bar obstacle course looking thing but the bars are bigger for larger kids or even us teachers (our 4 year olds weren’t allowed to go on this because the gaps were too big and they could slip right through) And then on the top where we let the kids put their book bags and jackets there was a large wooden jungle gym with even more different kinds of bridges and gaps and logs for the kids to try to hop across.  Oh lets not forget the space ship up here and two zip lines.  Hahaha These Japanese are intense with their playgrounds.  Haha We let the kids all go off and do their things.  I started at the bottom on the 40-50 ft tunnel structure to go to the top.  I had three kids ahead of me all calculating their steps on the bars very carefully.  Aoba (Ah-oh-ba) turned into my little buddy.  Looking back at me a little scared I asked if she wanted help.  This is a quite little girl with large brown eyes and perfectly parted pig tails.  She looks back at me with her big eyes and nods her head.  So I grab her little hands and hop her along the course.  Letting go at times to encourage her to do it alone just to have her grab my leg for support.  Halfway through I ran into Rachel who’s kind of sliding her but down the whole thing with two little girls and a boy riding on her stomach.  Haha aoba and I go around her finally making it to the top.  I pick her up real high and then place her down asking if that was fun.  Silently she nods her head with a smile.  I start to walk off toward these big giant drum looking things where you can jump on them at different heights and hear different thuds.  I feel a tugging on my shirt.  Little Aoba wants more help.  Haha ok little buddy.  I jump her onto the first one and then let her go to do it herself.  And I’m jumping all around them making rib bit noises pretending to catch these two little boys as my flies.  Aoba isn’t asking for help but just following my exact path.  Well this day was good.  Nothing really happened that’s worth reciting.  We all played and had a good time in this forest/mountain playground where you could peer through the trees and see our cities plus another.  At one point on the log obstacle course I was trying to hop on these wobbly logs because Reina (ray-na) really wanted to see it done.  These things were hard.  They were literally one foot log blocks stringed through a rope.  Where you had to try to balance on one and then hop to another but the logs would wobble all over the place as soon as you placed one foot down.  I end up swinging my shin into one of the blocks really hard.  Fighting back the initial surge of tears in my eyes and a large curse word I want to belt, I instead smile at reina and tell her I cant do it.  Only to go off and ten minutes later see her still trying and succeed.  So she asks me to watch her and try it again.  I watch her and realize its all upper body strength.  You have to latch your hands around the rope holding your body up long enough to place both feet down on the block without swaying.  I do it successfully… though my shin still hurts.  This was a fun day.   Rachel told me in the morning her goal was to tire the kids out at the park so the bus ride back they’d all sleep.  Well we succeeded.  And I passed out too.

Wednesday:

Melony is home sick so Mayumi comes up to me and informs me that I’ll be going on a field trip with the forest kids.  Ok.  Two in a row, cool.  She hands me a paper that tells me my schedule that day.  9-10: Recess 10-11: Forest kids start the three mile walk to E.P. 11-12: We stop in a park to eat lunch. 12-12:30:  We finnish the walk to E.P. and all get icecream at the tea store that’s right next door to E.P. 12:30-1:  The forest kids and teachers all play with the 0-2 year old class at E.P. then Jimi Cho will drive us back to the kindergarten.  At the end of this note it says Elise please take pictures of the kids on their walk. I read this and tell her I didn’t bring my SLR like I did on Friday.  And Meyumi says I could use her Nikon D50.  I think its the Nikon two steps below mine.  Ok.  I guess they’re slowly going to turn me into the schools photographer. Haha I kinda wish I was getting a bonus for my artistic eye but whatevs.  I’m more annoyed with the fact that this field trip is basically wrangling up 23 six year olds and walking three miles on a road.   Umm the other two field trips were way more entertaining for all of us.  I’m not looking forward to this walk and I don’t think any of the little kids would really lose sleep with excitement over this trek either. 

I go outside with Becky and Rachel for recess.  A lot of the kids are playing freeze tag.  And they’re strict on not coming in mid game.  If you didn’t start out in the game then you’re not in it.  Haha its also funny because they don’t use real freeze tag rules.  They play where one kid runs around freezing people while other kids unfreeze them until they say they’re tired and another kid will jump up to be “IT”.  I remember how badly we would avoid being “it” when I was younger.  It was the worst thing in the world trying to tag someone three times before they were finally the one to be the alleged “IT”.  But I don’t try to tell them the real rules because this is one of their favorite games and they seem happy playing it wrong. Haha. Theres always a volunteer to pick up the “it” spot when the previous one is too tired too.  Funny kids.  I decide to play soccer with this giant kick ball instead.  They LOVE soccer here.  Each prefecture has its own soccer team and the kids all are really into them.  Theres a stadium in Showa where Yamanashi will have their home games and some of the kids will go with their parents to watch.  Anyway soccer was the only sport I ever felt good at and after my 3 year run I was a little better than mediocre.  That should tell you something about my athletic abilities.  (Well that’s kind of selling myself short.  I love to run and skateboard and rollerblade and bike… but as far as team sports go I’m pretty lousy.)  As soon as I start dribbling the ball through kids and to the net and kick it in and scream “goal”.  I get like four little ones interested in playing with me.  One of them stays in front of the net as goalie while the other two are chasing after me for the ball.  I feel like a soccer superstar.  Kicking the ball in and out of frozen kids.  Letting the ball stay stationary long enough for one of my opponents to think they can kick the ball away and then I roll it out of their reach again and back into my possession.  I’ve never felt like such an atheletic champ.  I continue my little superstar game for a minute or two before I decide to switch into the  “Oh-no-you got-it-im-going-to-run-after-you-in-slow-motion” gig.  Chasing the two little ones like a big clumsy oaf who woud pretend to be about to kick it from them just to fall back again. “Ah you’re too fast”.  Recess is about to end and I leave my soccer friends behind to get ready for this stupid walk haha.

All the forest kids are already waiting by the door when I run in to grab my Bambi jacket and bookbag with my lunch in it.  We start the walk.  I have the D50 and start walking alongside the kids running ahead to snatch some pictures whenever we’re in front of something cool.  Ahhh I don’t think I’ve mentioned Sohta yet.  Haha I think this little boy has a giant crush on me.  Its pretty cute.  My second day at BBK when really only one or two kids acknowledged my existence and showed interest in me he came right up to me after lunch and stood in front of me smiling.  I looked down at him and asked him something in English when he kind of swayed and just continued to look at me smiling really big. Haha I picked him up and tickled him and put him down.  This is the kid who said I was a forest.  He’s also the first kid who remembered my name and uses it all the time.  Anyway I’m running alongside the kids when him and these two other little boys keep calling me over to them to try to get me to hold their hands on the walk.  HAHA Its really funny how they’re fighting over it.  I tell them I’ll switch and hold all their hands.  Feeling kind of funny that none of the little girls want or care about where I am.  So I’m walking with them singing “The ants go marching one by one harrah harrah”  A song that none of them have heard before but all really like watching me perform it.  This starts to get the little girls interested in me.  I finally break free from the little boys grasp and tell them I need to have both hands to take pictures.  This stops their constant asking for their turn.  By the time we get to the park for lunch I’m really tired from all the running around I’v been doing for pictures and the little sing song skits I’m performing.  UGhhh I cant wait for my stamina to build up so I can do all this without feeling like I need to crash for a nap mid day.  We eat lunch in the park I’m sitting next to two little girls.  The little hello kitty sandwhich girl has another one and she shows all her friends excitedly again.  Hehe I thought this was a one time deal last time the way she reacts but no…  its like groundhog day with each day still being just as surprised as the last.  I eat my lunch which I got at the convenient store (Melonys advice… they have good little lunches)  IT consists of rice and like three different meats that I’m still not 100% sure what they were, shrimp tempura, a little taste of asain flan (which is sooo good…  I didn’t even know asains made flan until this past thanksgiving when I hosted a work potluck at my house in Tallahassee and our company asain hehe butch brought in some that his mom made.  He left all the leftovers for me and I was so stoked about it because its SOOO good.) And a weird seaweed looking salad.  Seaweed looking but its not seaweed.  I’m really lucky I’m not a picky eater and will happily try anything in front of me because I’d be pretty miserable here if I were.  All the meats were really good.  One I’m 95% sure was a fish sausage which sounds gross but was quite tasty.  The only thing that threw me for a loop in this lunch was a sour plum they put in the center of my bed of rice.  I wasn’t expecting sucha  sour bitter taste.  I’m not the biggest fan and I LOVE sour/bitter.  Can eat a lemon happily and chug some ruby read grapefruit juice.  This little sour plum though gave me a contorted face I couldn’t control.  Kind of like the faces I make after doing a shot of liquor.  Mmm Attractive.

            After lunch the boys are running around crazy.  The little girls all kind of taking their time, talking.  I watch the boys exhausted.  Fighting with my eyes to stay open.  I look at Meyumi, Sensei B (shes melony’s co-teacher and the one teacher who hasn’t really tried to talk to me.  We talk little bits but not long enough for me to remember her name… I’m also meeting a lot of kids… well I’m making excuses really I should know her name by now. Ill get on it) and Jimicho.  The two women are eating their lunch talking with the kids while Jimi cho is running around with the boys.  He’s stolen this one kid Tristen’s hat and is wearing it running away from a little Tristan who is dying of laughter demanding his hat back.  Ummm they look like they can handle it on their own.  I think I might just rest my head on my bookbag for a sec…. out like a light.

            I wake up to giggling girls poking me “Elise Sensei WAKE UP”  haha I get up with a start almost forgetting where I was.  I laugh off my sleepy eyes so the girls don’t see zombie-wake-up-elise.

Woah… its Sunday night here.  9:30 pm and I hear someone outside talking in Japanese on a giant megaphone.  : (  I’m scared.  I can’t understand what they’re warning.  And everythings been kind of weird here since the tsunamis and earthquakes.  Ughhh fuck I wish I could understand what they’re saying.  I’m going to miss the warning. : (  I’m calling Melony now.  Ok it was just reexplaining something I already knew.  Because of the power plant disaster the cities that need power most right now are out of power.  So tomorrow and probably all week they’ll be taking power from various Japanese cities at different times each day.  Melony whos in Minami said they’ll be without power tomorrow from 10am-1pm and then 7pm-1am.  I don’t know what Showa’s is because I couldn’t understand the message.  Hopefully not when I usually skype.  Skype has really been saving me from feeling THAT homesick so…

Anyway.  We start walking again.  I go to the back this time.  I gave Mayumi the camera.  Its heavy with my bookbag and everything.  She can handle the rest of the pictures.  I’m walking with this little boy and girl who both want to hold my hand.  They tug at my jacket and ask why I’m wearing it. “Aren’t you warm Elise Sensei?”  HAHHA No you 40 pound freaks.  Sure the sun is warm but theres these icy winds that chill me to the bone.  You can literally feel the struggle between the sun and wind.  One trying to warm while the other swoops in with cool.  I’m shocked all these little ones are basking in these cold cold breezes.  The little girl Noa (yeah like the ark builder) whos to the left of me is biting the breeze smacking her teeth down into it saying “Yummy yummy”  I join in “Nom nom nom nom nom.  This is the best.  Just like the icecream we’re about to have huh Noa?”  “Haha yeah!  Mmm vanilla!”  She’s doing this for a long time.  Cracking herself up.  But this last 30 min bit she keeps turning to me saying “I’m so tired.”  “I know little one… hahah me too.”  Still not understanding the motivations for this “field trip”  Traffic safetly?   I pick her up over the staired bridge we use to cross the street.  Supermanning her up and down the stairs because she’s clearly struggling.  In my arms still biting the brisk winds.

We make it to the tea shop and all the little kids pick out icecream.  They get to choose from four different soft serves.  Vanilla, green tea, green tea vanilla swirl, or shoot. I cant remember the last one but it’s a flavor that just started getting popular back in the states.

We all eat our icecream at E.P.s play area.  There’s cornflakes at the bottom which is a nice surprise.  Then we play with infant class.  THIS was adorable.  Watching all the six year olds coddle the babies.  Play with trucks with them.  This one little six year old boy was hugging a little toddler so tight.  You can tell the toddlers LOVED this.  The toddlers all got a kick out of me being the only foreigner in the room.  Some of them running up to me and then when I turn their way they would run off screaming.  I was playing trains with two toddlers that ran after me when I had to go. <3

I get back to the kindergarten about to get ready for my last three hours at E.P. when Encho comes up to me and tells me to skip E.P. training today.  She said she heard I was really tired at lunch and I should just go get some rest and come back really genkei (gein-key) tomorrow.  This word is a Japanese word I really love.  It means happy and energetic.  She’s not saying any of this in a mad or pissed off way.  All teachers starting out are like exhausted the first month-month and a half because these little kids are all nonstop.  I get super excited.  I needed to go to the supermarket anyway.  I’m planning out the rest of my day super happily on the bus ride back over to E.P.

I go to the supermarket.  This isn’t the one I’ve been writing about, the one I met Andy and his family at.  This is a different one that Diana and Carolina took me too before our arcade adventure.  They always go to this one because the prices are lower here.  It still has a lot more than just food but its not as massive as the one I went to.  When I came to Trial (the new supermarket) with Diana and Carolina, Diana was kind of giving me a tutorial on whats good, what to get, what a lot of these foreign foods are.  Diana can read and speak in Japanese, English, and Spanish.  So awesome.  On that trip I basically grabbed a lot of what she was telling me about.  And I’ve been turning into quite a little asain cook.  I love it.  I’m more adventurous with cooking here than I ever was back home.  I’m making miso soup and fish and beef dishes nightly.  Mixing sauces. Most of the dishes pretty simple but they’ll get more and more advanced as I get better.  I’ve been eating so much edamame too.  Mmmm its just so perfect that vegetable.  Other than that first bad soup and eggs… I haven’t had any other bad food experiences.  Ohhh that sour plum!  Ughhh. Unpleasant surprise that was.  I get an area rug so I can practice hooping again.  I was progressing so fast back in the U.S and its kind of been on halt here.  I look at the bikes a little bit.  I’m going to need to buy my own bike soon since I’m borrowing Enchos right now.  The bikes here are awesome.  They come with built in baskets, lights, and locks.  You don’t need to buy all these separate things, its just one big package.  There are some really cool looking ones but I don’t really know what I’m looking for.  I don’t know how to gage bike quality or anything.

I go home that night and relax (Enchos wishes)  I take a bubble bath, hoop for the first time in a while.  Watch t and pass out.  Ahh the simple joys in life.  I’m going to stop here and post this at work tomorrow.  My internet isn’t working again just skype for some weird reason .  And I’m really sick. : (  I’ll write about my adventures Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tomorrow.

Thursday:

I eat my breakfast and halfway through it feels like my tooth is cracked or something it really hurt.  I had to eat the rest of my breakfast on the other side of my mouth because it was so tender. : (  I end up going to school and forgetting about it.

The kindergarten is surrounded by a grape vineyard.  Which is pretty awesome looking, I’ve never seen one before.  I was picturing thin fleshy vines like the ones I see grow on fences and houses.  But no these are full on TRUNKY vines.  They have a horizontal lead for them to grow on.  So its like a massive tree growing sideways.  I love it.  Its still winter so theres no leaves or grapes to distract you from the really pretty river-like paths these thick thick wooden vines make.  I need to bring my SLR to take pictures of them. But April 1^st I’ll be living right amongst them so theres no rush.  Well Thursday all the kids go outside for recess when the owner of the grape vineyard is burning a lot of brush.  The smokes flying right onto the hill where Haru is standing taking no notice.  This little boy is so funny.  He’s 4 in the Sky class and he’s so quiet and dreamy looking.  When you talk to him and he’s looking at you it kind of looks like he might be looking through you.  Haru-kun (In japan they add kun ((coon)) onto the ends of boys names and chan on the end of girls names as a kind of pet name.  Meaning little loved one.  I love doing this.  You need to make it two syllables though so for example there’s a little girl named kizuna ((ki-zoo-nah))  and for her name you would drop the na and just say kizuchan.  Kind of chiming it as you say it.  This comforts the kids when we’re asking them not to do something or if we just want to call them over or whatever.)  Anyway “Harukun what are you doing standing in that smoke? Come on little one move out of the way.”   Rachel, Becky and I are looking around at the smoke and playing kids and decide it has to be an indoor recess day.

I go into the star classroom where Ryhu and Raimu and two other kids have brought out babies and a little kitchen are and blocked out a house with chairs.  I grab one of the naked babies in the bin and look for clothes.  I find a shirt and socks.  No pants.  I start rocking the baby and say “I’ll be mom” when Ryhu says “Noo I’m the mom!”  “Ok… I guess I’ll be dad”  “No I’m dad!” Raimu chimes in.  “You can be grandmother!”  “Ohhh ok.”  So I rock the baby and talk in my best old womans voice.  Eating my daughter and son in laws “fruit punch”  which just looks like a bunch of the fake fruit we have at the kindergarten put into a soup bowl.   I get bored of this really fast.  Haha Not going to lie the first week was way easier to get excited about all this stuff because I forgot all these little kid games.  Now I remember why we all grow out of these games… because really they’re only a blast everyday if you are 3-6.  But its not like I hate it now or anything.  I just have to work at liking it a little more than these little kids.

I end up going over to the legos with Emma and Mami.  Emma’s gathering all the lego animals and is making a kind of zoo with them.  Mami… I’m not sure what she’s making an aircraft?  I ask her and she looks at me slyly and doesn’t say.  I decide to make a house.  I don’t know what age you start to color coordinate well but when these kids build legos color really isn’t a concern.  They look like abstract art pieces almost.  Just throw up of whatever color is nearest them.  I build my house with perfect stripes and a door and windows.  I look over at mami’s craft thing again.  “what are you making mami?”  She laughs.  Then Nalette says “probably a gun… this girl is always making guns.”  “Is it a gun?”  “Yeah hehehehe”  This makes me laugh.  Mami reminds me of myself at her age.  I was always making aircrafts and cars and trucks with Mikey.  I really had no want for any type of girl toys.  This one birthday party a girl gave me a barbi and I went right up to her and told her I really don’t like barbis.  I’m pretty sure my mom made me apologize.  Boy toys were way more interesting then brushing hair and accessorizing.  Mario I remember always had the best action figures.  All the ninja turtles.  All the characters from aladin and Lion King and Little Mermaid.  Nintindo characters.  And mikey had matchbox cars with tracks and everything.  You could make loopdi-loops with the tracks and watch the cars do little flips.  Anyways I finnish my house and start gathering the lego people to bring to life with mami having them go in and out of the house and such.  I try bringing some Animals in but zoo keeper emma just doesn’t agree to this.  Mami’s gun turns into a dragon and the rest of playtime I have to try to shelter all the people and zoo animals from the dragons wrath.

This playtime I see one of the Ocean kids has a runny nose.  Whenever the other teachers see this they just tell them to go grab a tissue.  I decide to try like I’v been witnessing the last two weeks.  “Kyoske, go wipe your nose please!”  “No.”  Well that was a fail.  I go up to Rachel and ask what to do next since I’ve never seen the kids straight up refuse.  She then explains that this kids a BIG baby and hates wiping his nose. “Kioske did Elise Sensei just ask you to wipe your nose and you didn’t?  Here’s a tissue please wipe your nose”  Blatent ignoring. “Ok” she wipes it for him.  And then he starts crying.  Just sitting on the floor completely defeated as if someone just smacked him or something.  Rachel and I both just leave him… I don’t want to encourage this behavior and neither does she.  Yoko comes up with tissues and is wiping his tears off his face and now the floor since he’s creating a little river.  Shes talking to him in Japanese.  Rachel tells me later that she basically was like “you know that didn’t hurt… you’re being a baby.”  Hash but true.  In april I’m going to be dealing with three year olds a lot of whom have never been socialized before or used to leaving their moms.  Rachel warns me theres going to be A LOT of crying.

At lunch my toothache gets worse.  By the end of lunch it feels like whenever I even drink water I can feel it seep into my tooth. : /  makes me wince just thinking about it.  I go to Encho and tell her because that’s what all the girls say I need to do.  Melony is still out sick.  She tells me that I don’t have insurance until my visa is in effect (which is like a week or two)  and I can go to the dentist but it will be kind of expensive.  I tell her I want to wait another day and see if it gets better or worse.  (Glad I did because it ends up going away completely.  Phew dodged that bullet.)

At E.P.  Tuerre lets me try to do a bit of the lesson on my own.  I wasn’t AWFUL but I was very timid and not used to having a little class watching me.  Well kind of, they watch and fidget and look around a lot.  Tuerre and Becky and Rachel all make it look REALLY easy an I was surprised at how… well not easy it was.  Tuerre tells me I didn’t do bad and I just need another try or so and I’ll have it fine.  She says not to get discouraged.  Sometimes it doesn’t seem like they’re paying attention or even retaining any English but they are.  She says when she started she thought the kids weren’t learning anything, but the parents would all come in and be excited that they were singing songs in English or just pointing out things and saying what they were in English.

Friday:

Each month the school has a “Birthday celebration” for all kids born that day.  So Friday we had marches.  It was really cute.  I sat in on Becky’s class because the Sky kids had two birthdays in it.  Before all the classes get together and celebrate, individual classes do their own thing.  The two birthday kids stand infront of their classmates.There was a little girl and a little boy in it. Becky puts the crown on this little girl Yuka and says “oh princess yuka so beautiful”  This little girl is dressed so cute in a black and white fluffy dress.  Its her special day.  Then Becky puts the crown on the little boy. “Oh and a prince!” I say  And then Becky smiles and says “No it’s a girl, TWO PRINCESSES”  eek I look around but none of the kids seemed to notice or care about my mistake.  They’re still too young and don’t know English well enough to get the prince princess thing maybe?  None of them wanted to tease Shiori or anything and Shiori didn’t look the slightest offended.  Becky told me later that everyone does that with her.  She said “The parents have talked to us concerned saying that everyone mistakes her for a boy all the time.”  And I’m like “Well maybe if they didn’t dress her like a little boy?”  “Haha exactly. And cut her hair like one! But we can’t really say that to them… so we always just go, Ohh I don’t know….”  Haha They’re monks so they think maybe that has something to do with it.

Well the birthday kids get to hear messages from their parents.  And its pretty sentimental to the kids.  Rachel says a lot of them get really choked up hearing how proud their parents are of them. <3

Skipping through the celebration… recess that Friday was pretty obnoxious.  I was getting rejected by a lot of the older kids… none of them wanted anything to do with me.  I really wanted to just be like “Fine play by yourselves I’ll just watch..”  But that’s not really what I’m getting paid for. Hehe.  At one point I find a puppet and I go under a table to put on a puppet show hoping that will attract some kids when a little boy tries to take it out of my hand.  “I’m using it right now I’ll give it to you when I’m done ok?” Nope not listening to anything I’m saying. Grab grab grab. “No that’s not how we share?  I’ll give it to you in a minute.” Grab grab grab.  Then Sohta comes out of nowhere and pushes the boy and says “She’s using it right now. You can use it after.”  Haha I want to praise Sohta for rescuing me but I know I can’t because he pushed him.  I actually just pretend I didn’t see the push and continue my puppet show half heartedly.  Eh I don’t really want it anymore anyway.  I go find the kid that ran off and give it to him.

After recess I’m sitting in Rachels class and we have a halfhour extra to play with the kids.  I teach a lot of them how to make paper airplanes and we decorate them and sore them around the room.  I play superman with suzenne and Reina.  Then they just sit on my stomach and I just slide around the room on my back. Making broom broom noises.  They’rs bouncing on my stomach giggling.  Then suzenne starts grabbing my boobs.  Melony warned me about this.  She said there are different ways to deal with this… I can do what Melony does and just ignore it, if the kids see it doesn’t get a rise out of me they’ll get bored and stop.  Or I can do what Rachel does and just explain to them it makes her sad and uncomfortable.  Or I can do what becky does and just do it back and say “Do you like it?” In which they ALWAYS respond “NOoo” and stop immediately.  So shes grabbing away and thinks its really funny.  I think its really weird and try Melonys tactic… but when she sees I’m not telling her to stop she gets more forceful.  Haha So I try my own tactic.  “ok Suzenne you have to get off the plane I don’t like that.”  “no no no I’ll stop!  I’ll stop.”  Hehe problem solved.

OK so this was the earthquake day.  I took my nap up in the loft like usual.  And I wake up to the floor shaking.  It feels like someone beneath me is just pushing the walls.    It gets more intense.  I realize its not someone pushing the walls “Hey you guys feel that?”  I shout down to Becky and Rachel who are taking their breaks beneath in the teacher area. “Yeah Elise!  Make sure you aren’t under anything.”  And then they both bolt out of the room.  I sit there not knowing what to do.  Well I know I’m not under anything and I can’t walk down the narrow stairs so I just have to wait it out.  It continues for a couple minutes and then stops.  But it was kind of intense I think we felt a level 4?  Looking out the window I could see BBKs bus teetering like mad.  It didn’t take long at all before we were gathered around a computer watching the tsunami sweep that city away.  It was really sad.  Becky tried making jokes to lighten the mood.  Nobody wanted to hear them.  Nobody acknowledged them. “Too soon eh?  I just really don’t like thinking about it.” “Yeah too soon Becky….” I reply.  I know she doesn’t mean it but its pretty disrespectful.  Ugh I’m watching thinking how insanely lucky we are.  How I’m fighting back tears thinking what a nightmare this has just made so many peoples lives.  How its just destroyed so many peoples lives.  Rachels crying because she just found out her boyfriend is ok.  She thought he was close to it.  Yoko leaves immediately because her grandma doesn’t have a phone and lives north of Tokyo.  She ended up being ok.  After that half hour around the computer though everyone went on the rest of the afternoon like normal.  Every once and a while someone would bring it up “wow I can’t believe that just happened”  And it would be somber for a second.  Or we would feel one of the two aftershocks and get a little scared.

Soo after work I ride my bike to this thrift store because I want to get some play clothes for work.  OH MY GOSh.  BEST EXPERIENCE EVER.  I posted pictures on Facebook.  But all of the clothes fit me perfectly and were super stylish ad cheap.  I couldn’t have been more excited to flick through the thousands of clothing items they had.  Thrifting in America is not like this at all.  I’d have to sift through a bunch of crap most of it would never fit me or even come back into style.  All of this stuff was awesome.  It was either chic vintage or fashions of today.  Cute little Asians thank you.  I only went on the first floor because I was so hungry and I was already there for 2 and half hours but it was amazing and had anything you could think of.  I can’t wait to go back.

Saturday I decided to stay in and rest.  And I was going to leave Sunday to go explore.  Wrong.  I wake up Sunday with really bad body aches and a high fever.  I write a lot of this blog but I can’t do anything.  I was sooo bummed a weekend wasted on rest. : (  No exploring.  This past week I’ve been so sick with the flu. They took me to the dr. on Wed.  When they tested me and confirmed that I had Influenza.  Admittedly I didn’t know this was just a fancy name for the flu.  I didn’t find this out till later when a friend on skype pointed it out to me.  Hehe I felt kind of silly. Its kind of been a blur of sleeping and fevers and waking up in sweats.  Cleaning the sheets and baths.  Thinking I’m better and then relapsing.  Hearing a lot of Japanese loud speaker announcements of expected blackouts (I ended up pretty lucky being one of the very few little square blocks who don’t get any blackouts?  I have candles and flashlights though.  I need to figure out what to do with them.)  But yeah these speaker things along with my sisters trying to talk me into coming home to deciding I am coming home to finding out I am safe and don’t need to come home.  Well this week hasn’t been the best.  I felt an even more intense earthquake on Wed night.  It felt like I was on a boat.  I could feel waves in the floor.  It really freaked me out.

Then I finally was fully healed and ready to party on Saturday.  Encho and Jimi Cho (Jimi cho is Enchos husband)  Threw a welcome party for Nalette and I and a goodbye part for Rachel.  It was awesome.  Really amazing Japanese tappas.  And Never ending drinks that Rachel and kept giving me.  Rachel ordered me two at one point and was like “well its not like you cant have two at a time”  And Mariko said  at another point in the night “Alcohol is used to disinfect and heal, so drink up girl you need this alcohol the most!”  This was an awesome night.  We all were so drunk and laughing constantly.  Japanese and English intertwined.  We went to Karaoke afterwards. I woke up this morning not with a fever… but a HUGE hangover.  A happy trade.

Alright Im caught up.  I’m going to go read and go to sleep. Haha sorry I kind of rushed the last bits but I need to get better at deciding what I can leave out.  I get too detail happy : )