While I was still in Japan

July 25h, 2006

1. Well, I am out of Tanbara. Officially. For good. On Tuesday, I moved out. I got some surprise money back from my landlord because he seemed to have overlooked the damage that Ocha did on the apartment. So, I got a cool bit of cash, so I no longer need to stress about money for my time in Japan, which is nice.
2. Tuesday I moved into Duncan’s for a couple days. It was weird. But, it was cool. Duncan is such a good friend to me. I’m really lucky to have had him in my town with me.

July 26, 2006

3. Wednesday, I met up with Raul and his mother and aunt for lunch. It was interesting. I have become used to understanding at least some of what goes on in another language (Japanese), but they all spoke Spanish. I was so lost! But it was a nice meal of ham and cheese sandwiches. Raul’s aunt and I had a giggle because both of us put potato chips inside of the sandwich, which Raul and his mom thought was weird.
4. At 2:30 on Wednesday, Duncan and I met up with the Yoko-nator! She took us to this shaved ice restaurant in Imabari which is very famous. Asking our other Japanese friends about it, and they all knew! Even though it was the tiniest of places. I had strawberry and milk flavored shaved ice, which was yummy.
5. After that restaurant, we were like, what should we do? So, Duncan suggested karaoke. To be honest, in Japan one just can’t get enough of it. I felt a tiny bit quiet, so I didn’t sing as much as Duncan and Yoko.
6. When we came back to Toyo, we picked up Ocha. Bless him! He’s had a rough couple of days. The vet fed him WAY too much and Ocha was noticeably fatter when he left!
7. At 7, I met some people at Marubun for a goodbye meal (Yoko, Stacey, Kana, John, Manabe-chan, Sa-chan, K-chan, and Miki). It was lovely to just hang out and chat. Saying goodbye at the end was rough. I was doing ok, but then Kana burst out in tears, which brought mine on. From that point on, I cried a lot.
8. Saying goodbye to Yoko was weird. I didn’t cry nearly as much as I’d expected. I think one reason is that I had just finished crying a ton. Also, I feel like with Yoko, I will definitely see her again. I don’t feel that way about most of the other people I’ve met. It’s sad to say, but it’s true. I hope to see everyone again, but I also much be realistic, you know.
9. When I got back to Duncan’s, I was EXHAUSTED. But, he convinced me to walk with him to Circle K to get a drink. We walked and we talked and stuff. I’ll miss that boy a whole lot.

July 27, 2006

10. This morning, I woke up WAY too early. I had to wake up at 5:15 so I would be ready for Stacey and Jemmy, who came to pick me up at 5:45 to leave for the airport. It was so nice of them to take me! I will miss those two!
11. It’s good we ended up getting to the airport early. There were some problems over Ocha. Apparently he wasn’t allowed to come in the cabin with me. So we put him into one of their cages to ride in the back. Then, there was a problem with that cage, so we had to put him into a small little wooden box with holes in the top! How scary! The whole plane ride I was really orried about him. In the back, there in o protection for his ears fromall the loud airplane noises! I hope he isn’t deaf. He seemed ok afterwards.
12. We flew from Matsuyama into Haneda (Tokyo). From there, we took a mega long bus ride (cuz of the Tokyo traffic) to Narita Airport. I was met, after a little bit of confusion, by the guy who owns Ocha’s pet hotel. He promised to give him enough veggies every day, which is good. Ocha hasn’t been pooing as much lately, which isn’t a good thing.So, then I saw Ocha off.
13. Since then (about 11am!), I hung around Narita airport for many hours. It sucks cuz it’s so far outside of Tokyo that it’s hard to go and come back, with time left to do stuff. So anyway, I was hanging in Narita for a long time. I discovered that this airport has a shower room for only 500 yen! Cheap! So, I took a shower in my own bathroom that was much better than is in most hotels. It was SO refreshing and SO needed.
14. Then around 10:15ish I met up with David, and then came to his apartment. I was so exhausted I couldn’t even get any expression on my face. We watched a few minutes of Sideways, but both of us were sooo tired, so we went to bed.

July 28, 2006

15. This morning, David and I woke up at a reasonable hour, which was nice. No early awakenings! We got out of bed around 10ish. We went to the post office to pick up something for him and my suitcase. It turns out that my suitcase is being sent tomorrow morning. Then, we went off to the grocery store cuz he had nothing food-wise in his apartment.
16. Around noon, he went off to work and out with his buddies for the day. I took a walk down to Kotoni to use the internet at an internet café. I only spent around an hour there. I just didn’t have anything to do online today, I guess.
17. Then, I went to a flower shop nearby and talked to the girl who works there. She was very nice. I bought some nice white and yellow, cheerful flowers.
18. Then, I went to Uni-qlo (a clothing shop here that is similar to the Gap, but not as good). I bought a white shirt, 2 tank tops, and some underwear (to wear tomorrow while I wait for my suitcase to come. They won’t fit well at all, but I need something.
19. In the evening, I went and saw fireworks. They were huge and spectacular! But, I didn’t enjoy them as much as I should have. I was feeling a bit lonely, as I was all alone and surrounded by people with family and friends. It’s ok though. It’s ok to feel lonely sometimes.

July 29, 2006

20. I made a fairly average chicken salad mix for David and me for lunch. Hope he likes it! (He did!)
21. In the evening, we went to the Sapporo Beer Festival to meet up with David’s work colleagues before his night class. It was nice. I chatted to some high school/college aged kids for a while, which was cool. They are taking an intense English class at Berlitz (David’s company) so they can study English in University in America.
22. I went into David’s high school class in the evening. The two girls that were there, Nanami and Rie, are very sweet. They were planning out a movie. I think around the end of the month, they are going to try and shoot it. It’s pretty funny sounding. I can’t wait to see it!

July 30, 2006

23. We spent the morning relaxing. In the afternoon, we went off to the Sapporo Art Park. IT was this HUGE park full of many sculptures from all over the world. Some were amazing. Some made us go, “hmmm.” It was nice, though. Some of the artwork was amazing!
24. After the Art Park, we headed into town and checked movie times. Then, we went to the Sapporo Beer Festival and got some drinks and just relaxed. After walking around the Art Park all day, we were pooped! After drinking our cold drinks, we got a bit chilly. Sapporo is the only place where I’ve honestly been COLD in July. So strange. So, we got some coffee and then headed off to the theater.
25. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It was ok… I didn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t hate it. But, I won’t pay to see it again.
26. By the time we got home, around midnight, both of us were absolutely exhausted. From what I can remember, once I fell asleep, I slept pretty deeply until David got up.

July 31, 2006

27. This morning, David woke me up with a light kiss on the neck. That was the best was to be woken up, ever.
28. David came home for lunch today between his jobs. I made grilled cheese sandwiches. We just chilled out, listening to some Grandaddy. He was very exhausted, so he relaxed and read my Cosmo for a bit.
29. In the evening, we went out for a yakiniku dinner. Yum!

August 1, 2006

30. David and I both slept in late (9;45ish for me and 10:30 for him!). We hung around the apartment for a while, just relaxing. I watched Battle Royal and David played the Sims.
31. At 4ish, I went to one of David’s elementary school classes with him, which was nice. We learned rooms of the house and a few objects that go in them.
32. After the lesson, David and I went to Royal Host (a restaurant) and both got tacos for dinner. Yum!
33. After Tacos, David had more lessons, so he had to go. I walked around for a long time, looking for some mysterious shopping arcade. I never did find it. But, I did find a store called “Art Box: CRAP” which was funny. It was a store with random crap (true to its name) and a bunch of handmade stuff. When I walked in, the shopkeeper (a really friendly woman named Ikuyo) came up to tell me to try any jewelry I wanted on. I said ok. She was amazed that I’d understood her! So, we ended up chatting for about an hour and a half! It was really nice. I t made me realize just how far I’ve come with my Japanese. It’s almost a waste for me to not keep studying when I go home, you know? We’ll see.

August 2, 2006

34. Today, David worked all day. He left the house at 7:30 or so and didn’t come back until 10ish. He’s been working a lot since I’ve been here. His normal hours plus some. It’s not his choice though. One of his bosses is preggers, so he has to cover for her. It’s really hard for him. He has been super tired the past 3 days in a row. And tomorrow is another long one. He will be out from 8:30ish in the morning and won’t be back until after 11pm. *sigh*
35. Today was a worthless day for me. When I woke up, I headed to a faraway place called Sato-Land Farm Park. It looked neat in the brochure. Unfortunately, when I got there, it was lame. But, I did get to drink the most delicious milk ever out of a glass bottle. Yum! But overall, lame. It took me an hour and a half to get there…and I only stayed an hour.
36. After the failed park fiasco, I went to downtown Sapporo. I walked around for a long time. It’s weird for me because I should want to go shopping, right? But I just keep getting defeated by Japan, where I am of monstrous proportions compared to the Japanese women…that I just can’t buy anything. So it’s no longer fun for me to go shopping.
37. Then, I came back to David’s apartment around 6ish I think. I headed over to the nearby internet café. I rented a booth until 9:15pm. By the time I got back to David’s apartment, it was almost time for him to be home.
38. When he got home, I gave him some presents that I put together for him.
39. Then we watched some of Happy Gilmore and went to sleep.

August 3, 2006

40. I slept a tad late today. At 11, I left for the city.
41. At 11:30, I met David for his lunch break. We had Freshness Burger (which is the closest to a real burger anywhere I’ve found yet). I had a delicious cheeseburger with REAL cheese on it! WOAH!!!
42. After lunch, David had to get back to work. I decided to wait for him to get off, so I spent about 3 hours just bobbing around the city. First, I went and played on the internet for an hour. Then, I sat in Starbucks and people watched. Then, I did some walking, and eventually some shopping. I bought a pair of ugly/beautiful chucks for about $25. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself!
43. After 4ish, I met up with David again. He took me to this cute little café called “Fab Café.” We had some chocolate drink which was AMAZING!
44. We had to leave around 5:30 because we had a class to teach at his other job. I m allowed to go with him to that job, which is cool. The kids are super good.
45. I met a little Japanese boy (with great English) whose English name is Ralf. :o)

August 4, 2006

46. This morning because it was SO hot, I woke up at around 5am and had to go sleep for an hour on the kitchen floor to cool me down a bit.
47. I met David around 11:30, after his first lesson of the day. Is company is cool and paying him for NOT teaching today. When he teaches children’s classes, they give him 10 minutes free. Then, they wait and add it up all at once. So, it turns out that he got paid for teaching a lesson today when he didn’t have to do it. Lucky!
48. The first thing we did was to go get his haircut. I must say, his new cut is pretty sexy. And he likes it, which is very important. I wish I could have gotten a haircut I loved here. Unfortunately, nope.
49. After the haircut, we went to the Yahoo store. He bought a used laptop for a pretty good price. He also set up internet in his apartment, which will start at the end of the month. What a productive afternoon!
50. After the computer/internet fun, both of us were super hungry, so we went to a “Biking.” A “Biking” or “Viking” is the Japanese word for buffet. We ate SO much, we almost literally rolled out of there. Oh, while there, as an evil game, we decided to play Janken (paper rock scissors). The loser had to eat another bite of food! I lost twice and thought I was going to vomit everywhere! Hehe.
51. After the buffet, we went off and did some purikura. Ahh, I LOVE purikura. We borrowed some super silly costumes from the place and had a costume edition of purikura! So funny!
52. After purikura, we had to go pick up David’s computer, then he had to teach a lesson at his Maruyama school. I went back to his apartment and played some Sims and washed dishes. Woo fun!

August 5, 2006

53. Slept late-ish! Past 9am! Wooooaaah!
54. David had to work in the morning, so while he was at work, I went and did laundry. Mega fun and you know it. While there, I lost one of my favorite shirts and my favorite hang-out skirt. Damn!
55. I met David for his lunch break. I made him a sandwich and we ate lunch on Odori Park. After he ate his lunch, I got us both ice cream to enjoy. Ice cream in the park. Cheesy and fun.
56. After lunch, I took David’s computer back to the Yahoo store to see if the language could be changed from Japanese to English (turns out it can’t!). So, for an hour they told me they couldn’t do it. That’s one thing about this country that annoys me. They can’t just tell you a simple “no.” They go to an extra extent to double and triple check it. That’s nice and all, but when you wait for an hour for them to tell you an answer that they have known the whole time… It is a bit annoying.
57. In the evening, I went with David to his high school class. Rather than having class this week, it was decided that we would all do fireworks together. David burnt his thumb pretty badly (bless his heart) for lighting a group of rockets taped together. It was fun, though. Yay fireworks!
58. After fireworks, David and I headed downtown. We found this delicious izakaya and ate lots of little finger foods and drank copious amounts of alcohol. David drank a beer larger than his head!
59. After food, we went to this super plush karaoke place and we rocked the joint with nomihodai (all you can drink!!!) for a looong time. We sang many classics, including, A Whole New World, Whoop There It Is, and countless other silly songs.
60. After karaoke, both of us were SO drunk and tired, we took a 2000 yen taxi back to David’s apartment.

August 6, 2006

61. After the festivities of the previous night, you may guess (correctly) that the two of us were hung-OVER! Geebus!
62. In the morning when he woke up (hungover), there was a guy chopping wood or something right outside his apartment window. I wanted to kill him! It was 11am (which was a nice lie-in)… way too early for me to be ready to face the world!
63. To cure the hangover…well, not a cure, but something to help, I made French toast for us for breakfast. Yum!
64. For our last day together, we had planned to do lots of things on Sunday. We were going to have a picnic and then climb a mountain to see the amazing view of the city. Unfortunately, both of us were SO ill that we said “Fuck that!” and went to an internet café for the day instead.
65. Internet Cafes rule. We spent 9 hours in a little booth together with 2 computers. I read about 8 or 9 magazines (well, I looked at the pictures, anyway) and David played about as many different video games. Hurrah for spending our day together in a little box away from the world. It was really so nice. I didn’t want to hang out with anyone but David that day.
66. A note about just chillin with David: I love it! Just playing video games with him, watching him play them, watching movies together…whatever! I love it. I just get so much enjoyment from hanging out with my boyfriend.
67. After we got to David’s apartment and got into bed…I had a nice crying session. Not just little tears, but full, big sobs. I needed it. It just sucks so much to have to do the long distance thing. And it’s not that it’s not worth it, cuz it is…but it fucking sucks. And I was in Sapporo over a week this time, so just as I was getting into the swing of things, I had to leave. Damn it.

August 7, 2006

68. Monday morning, I woke up with David and we said goodbye. I am not going to go into details about it, but tears were involved. I am really going to miss him.
69. I made pancakes for breakfast, which were yummy.
70. I took a bus to Sapporo to catch my flight to Narita Airport. Well...when I got to Sapporo’s airport, I found out that my flight had been cancelled! So, they popped me on another, much more inconvenient flight to another airport, from where I took a bus to my original location. Ugh, it was such a pain!
71. When I got to Narita, finally, I met up with Ocha. I took him right up to the quarantine office and entered him in there. The staff were very nice and helpful, which was excellent. His pen for 2 days is HUGE (I think it was meant for a fairly large dog). That must be exciting for him, having such a large place to run around. I hope he likes the cage I ordered for him for America.
72. After getting lost in Narita city for a LONG time, I eventually found my youth hostel. It’s a pretty nice place. Newly redecorated with a “neauveau-asian” theme. I chatted to a Japanese dude named Yas who lives in Hawaii for a while, then went to bed early.

August 8, 2006

73. Today was my last day in Japan. Did I spend it doing Japanese-y things like visiting shrines? Nope. I sure didn’t. Instead, I went to a shopping mall and bought some socks and underwear (I forgot to pack a paid for tomorrow!) and a book.
74. I called David and chatted to him for about 30 minutes before stopping my phone service. God, I am going to miss that boy.
75. I had a discussion with Yas about how mullets are ugly and how so many Japanese men have them.
    

"If your life were a book, what would the title of it be? And what chapter are you in now?"

"Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost. Wherever you are is called here, and you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask permission to know it and be known."

"The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, 'I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again saying, 'here.' No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows where you are. You must let it find you."

A step away from the ordinary

Greetings all! I am currently in Sapporo staying with the handsome David until my return to the states.

I won't be posting as normal here, and for that, I apologize. I am, however, working on a daily happy on my personal computer. If I make it somewhere with wireless, I will update then. If not, there will be a very big post to be made when I return to America!

Sorry for the inconvience, y'all! Love ya!

-Abs

It's something unattainable that you can't live without.

1. God it is ROASTING today!
2. So the last 3 days I’ve been cleaning my little heart out! All I have left to do, really, is to sweep up the floor in the kitchen and the genkan…then I am pretty done! Oh, and I have to take a million bags of trash out. Trouble is that since garbage day isn’t until Thursday, I have to walk them over to the dumpster which, I think, is near Duncan’s apartment. Gah! I think that’s the closest one.
3. Yesterday Yoko and I took Ocha to the vet. He is staying there for a few days.
4. After the vet, I met Kana and we went to Ikebana. Awwe. It was so cute! My teacher is so wonderful. She bought cakes for us to eat and we ate cake and drank tea after we set up our flowers. Then when it was time to say goodbye, she cried! Awwe! Bless her!
5. Around 11:30, Manabe-chan came over. She showed me her sister’s wedding pictures, and then gave me copies of the photos from my birthday! They are SUPER funny. She stayed over and we chatted till around 1am.
6. This morning, I was awoken in the worst possible way. My landlord came around 8:30 and just rang the doorbell ***4*** times in quick succession. I was shaking because my body was not able to really wake up so fast! And then I had to run around the apartment looking for a pair of pants while he is ringing the doorbell! Ugh! I told him to come back at 6pm. He was very surprised. I guess he thought I would want to be out early today….
7. I walked my suitcase and a few bags over to Duncan’s apartment. When I was up in his apartment, I stole a banana and some Calpis because I was STARVING and have NO food left in my house at this point. I’ll tell him later. He’ll be cool with it. :o) That’s why I like Duncan. He’s just so laid back.

From the pouring rain

1. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!!!! I love you all!
2. Friday night, Sara came over and we went to yummy yakiniku. Then we stayed up and chatted for many hours. It was so nice!
3. Saturday morning, Sara and I ate chocolate croissants for breakfast, chilled out and relaxed. Then, we took a nice hour-long walk around Tanbara.
4. At 1:30ish, Yoko picked us up. We did some runs thru the grocery store, then headed to her place for cake making. It was nice fun. Sara and Yoko are both good at cooking. I wasn’t so good. But I was happy and enjoying being with friends. I felt very jumpy and happy, like when Ocha feels good, he does a binky jump. I was doing those.
5. After we finished the cake, the 3 of us went to yakiniku at a DELICIOUS restaurant. Yakiniku 2 nights in a row killed my tummy, but was soooo good.
6. Then was my party. There were about 15 or so people there. We ate at laughed. I got a couple of birthday presents which was exciting! Then we headed off to karaoke. About 8 of us went. It was such good fun! I sang loudly and danced a lot.
7. Saturday night, Yoko and Sara stayed over. The next morning Sara went home early. Yoko and I played with Ocha for a bit, then walked over to Duncan’s apartment to get Yoko’s car. It was blocked in by Betchi’s car. It turns out that she had lost her car key some time in the night!! So, she called her mom to bring a spare. Right when her mom was almost there, Duncan remembered that he’d hid her car keys the night before so she couldn’t drive home drunkenly! Ha! Silly Duncster!
8. Tonight I took a long walk in the rain with Duncan. We walked down roads neither of us had been before and made a few discoveries along the way, for example we found a little pond! It was nice to just walk and talk. I am going to seriously miss Duncan a lot. He has been such an amazing friend to me. My Tanbara brother.
9. I ate Pringles for dinner at Duncan’s house. My stomach hurts now.

Tonight I am not in a talkative mood. I will perhaps add more to this later because my birthday was certainly very exciting and fun!

I never feel alone with the headphones on.

1. Number 1 good thing is that tomorrow is my birthday!!!
2. Thursday’s enkai was pretty fun. Toda-sensei made me a goodbye DVD and the staff gave me a bottle of fancy looking sake.
3. Toda-sensei also made an Abie Quiz to test the teachers about me. They did pretty good, but one teacher kept trying to cheat. He’d be like, “Abie, do you like sushi?” (in Engish which was good for him cuz he NEVER says anything in English). To that I said, “Eigo ga wakaranai…” (I don’t understand English). Muahaha!
4. At the enkai, Kocho-sensei (the principal) wanted to give me a present, but he handed it to Yumiko, saying “Tell her that this is just something I had in my house.” But he didn’t want to tell me himself. So, I said “Kocho-sensei, I understand. Thank you for the gift,” in Japanese, he had a special silly reaction. By this time in the night, he was TRASHED off of sake. So when I said that I understood, he fell over! Just fell over onto his side! It was so funny! Straight down!
5. This morning, I mailed off 3 more boxes home. 13000yen! Ugh! Ahh well, they need to get there one way or the other. It sucks though cuz tht was the cheapest I could send them.
6. Today has been frustrating. I’ve been trying to sort how to close down all my bills and stuff. Damn, it’s complicated. I spent an hour and a bit in the bank with my supervisor and Yumiko. Every time I had something to say to make things easier, they all ignored me. It was so annoying, but super satisfying when I finally did explain myself, I was right. Ha!
7. During the hour between errands, I played the Sims. Yay!
8. Tonight Sara is coming over, and perhaps Stacey too. We are going to go to that yummy yakiniku place!

Tomorrow begins today

1. Today is my last day at Higashi. I gave my goodbye speech, got some flowers, and a few gifts. Now, I am all packed up and soooo ready to go. I am going to hopefully ask to go home early today. I have to come back at 6:30 anyway to go to an enkai. Some people love going to enkais, but I don’t really. I don’t have amazing relationships with my colleagues, so going to and sitting around a table, eating gross food, and drinking with them isn’t super mega fun for me. But, perhaps this one will be awesome!
2. I have 6 days left in Tanbara. This time next week, I will be in Tokyo, waiting for my flight to Sapporo!
3. Tomorrow, Sara is coming over to play. I have to clean my apartment, but it will be very nice to have the company.

"To transform the emptiness of loneliness, to the fullness of aloneness. Ah, that is the secret of life."

I haven’t posted in a few days. Sorry. I have been away from computers and the internet for a bit. And last night when I had a chance to post, I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it.

1. Monday I spent the morning and early afternoon at home playing with Ocha. Oh, I also visited out Home Carpenter store to pick up a few things… When I got there, I found out that it is in it’s last days and is closing soon. That was weird.

2. At 3, Jemmy picked me up and we headed to Namioka-sensei’s house. It was a bit stressful at first and I felt a bit shy because it was me, my Japanese teacher, two other Japanese teachers, and my teacher’s husband. I felt a little pressured to speak Japanese well, which makes me not want to speak at all. But I did. Turns out that Nami-chan (Mr. Namioka) is really good at English! Woah!

3. Namioka-sensei made us a 6 course Italian meal! It was insanely delicious. Seriously, it was better than any restaurant I’ve ever eaten at!

4. After dinner, I got a surprise birthday cake and a beautiful pair of earrings from everyone. They are super beautiful and I love them!

5. Then, we went to karaoke and rocked out. I’ve never been to karaoke with adults before. It was a completely different experience.

6. Monday night, I stayed over at David T’s apartment. We chatted till late and then he had to go to sleep cuz he was exhausted and had work in the morning.

7. Tuesday morning, I walked around Niihama Fuji for a while and found Karl a couple things. I also got Yoko her goodbye present. Then, I met David T for lunch.

8. At 1, David T had to go back to work, so I walked to Aeon (a real mall-style shopping center!) and walked around. I eventually me tup with my friend Emma and walked around and chatted with her for a bit. Then, I met David T from work at 4:30 and we talked in the park, then headed to his friend’s store. There, we talked about how to say sexual things in English and Japanese. We learned a lot.

9. Today was my second to last day at work. I had my Japanese lesson. I was extremely surprised that I didn’t cry. I think Namioka-sensei could tell the moments when I was about to, and she would do something silly to distract me. What an amazing lady. I will miss her dearly.

10. Tonight Duncan and Yoko came off for dinner before running off to do their various errands and things. I will miss those two lots.

Lately has been a bit difficult for me. I keep having to say these goodbyes to my friends. It is so hard. To people who you know you will never see again, it’ very hard. And even people you are sure you will meet again…you have no idea when, so that is hard. I haven’t said a single goodbye to a friend and not cried. Last night after saying goodbye to David T, I cried on the taxi ride to the train station.

I wish life would be easier, really. I feel so lost and lonely lately. I know it will pass (soon, hopefully), but the here and now is not so difficult right now. I have started feeling scared and nervous to come home. I have no idea what I am going to do. But I don’t want to stay in Tanbara, can’t stay in Japan, don’t want to go home to America… I don’t actually WANT anything right now except a real hug.

Calm down, release your cares

1. I’ve been feeling very quiet lately. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s my impending departure from Tanbara. I have just over a week left here!
2. Today I went with Yoko and Kozue to see our friend, Miwako, and her orchestra perform. The cultural center was packed! The orchestra was very good, although during some of the pieces, I had o seriously struggle to keep awake.
3. After the concert, the 3 of us went to a coffee shop to crab a coffee and some nibblies. I was very quiet. I just seem to have lost anything interesting to say. I hope I am more chatty tomorrow.
4. When I got dropped off at home, around 6, I started cleaning. I am rounding up all my things to pack. As soon as I am packed, I am going to start a mega clean. Unfortunately this apartment never looks as clean as it is. Ugh. It’s fairly old and there are some stains that have been here for eons.
5. Tonight I read some nerdy stories on the web. I have started writing a story a school, but it’s really crap. Ahh well. It gives me something to do.

From the moment I wake, to the moment I sleep

1. Today was Yoko and Kozue day. I met up with them around 10:15ish. We went and took a ferry to an island outside of Imabari. The ferry ride was a pleasant 20 minutes.
2. When we got there, we went to a rose garden and ate ice cream. I got sweet potato ice cream! YUM!!!
3. Then, we went to the beach! We stayed there for hours. I didn’t put any sunscreen on my legs because they are MEGA white. Turns out that was a VERY bad idea. Now they are like two lobsters attached to my torso: red and angry! But, the parts of me I put sunscreen on (twice) still got burned some…it’s a lose-lost situation.
4. On the way home, we got crepes. I got cream cheese and blueberry, which was yummy…but I ended up wearing most of it. Doh!

Let's travel 'round the world, just you and me

For July 14th

1. It was my last day of teaching! Now I am finished teaching!!!!! Woooo! Only 2 more days left at school!
2. After school, I went to the doctor to see about this itchy rash that I’ve got. Being a foreigner is sometimes super cool! I went to see our English-speaking doctor friend, Iio-sensei. Anyway, I got in the office, gave them my card, went to the bathroom and basically the second I got out of the potty my name was called to go back and see the doctor. I waited, saw the doctor, paid, AND filled my prescription in less than 20 minutes, in spite of a MEGA crowded waiting room.
3. I went to Richard’s surprise birthday party. We sang karaoke, ate cake, and set off fire works.
4. When we were setting off fireworks, this old lady came and yelled at us. Well, she was across the river, but she was yelling at us about it being late and stuff. Anyway, so we moved away from the river. Yuriko was trying to get everyone to be super quiet, and then she set off the next firework, which she thought would just spray some fireworks into the air about 3 feet. Well, it turns out that she didn’t read the package properly because it ended up shooting about 4 super loud missile-like fireworks into the sky! Ha! Take that, Obaachan!
5. I slept fairly well last night. I don’t remember my dreams, but I do remember that they were good.

And I was home in bed; I was a kid again

Wow, what a busy, but good day.

1. I was supposed to get up early to shower today, but opted for 20 more minutes of needed sleep. Then, I had just enough time to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast!
2. I had 3 classes today at Higashi. They went by fairly fast, and they put me that much closer to ending my teaching!!
3. After lunch I felt SUPER exhausted, so I ended up sleeping through cleaning time before going to elementary school.
4. My first class at elementary school put me in a small mood cuz they were so horribly behaved. But, my last class ever at elementary was with my FAVORITE teacher I’ve taught with to-date. Kurokawa-sensei is motivated, keeps his kids in line while still letting them have fun, and up for a good time! His classes are always good. I used to HATE the 4^th graders at that school because they were PSYCHOTIC. But, then when they became 5^th graders, they got him as a teacher, and now they are the best class in the entire school. It’s amazing what a difference the teacher makes in the personality of a class. Anyway, today’s lesson went by PERFECTLY. I was amazed. It was the highest note I could have finished on.
5. After class, I got cards and letters and even presents from my students! It’s so amazing. Kids are amazing. They gave me things that I know are a big deal to them. For example, this one give gave me a clay frog sculpture she’d made. 2 other girls gave me their (very loved and used) Keitai straps. Then giving me something that beloved means a lot. I was amazed. Another girl gave me a used, but loved eraser in the shape of a clown. It was so touching! I also got 2 fancy presents. One is a beautiful mug and the other is a folding fan, the expensive kind that comes with a silk case! Wow!
6. After classes were over, the WHOLE SCHOOL saw me off! THE WHOLE SCHOOL waved goodbye to me as I rode away. I almost cried. I will honestly miss that part of the job. I love the working with kids part so much. Children are just so genuine.
7. After elementary school, I met up with Duncan, Ayaka, and Kasumi. Duncan and I treated the girls to karaoke and purikura today. We sang lots of songs, danced, and had a merry time. I love those girls. Duncan and I both forgot our cameras, like dorks, though.
8. After karaoke, I raced home. Yoko met me at 6 and we took Ocha to the vet. He has to go back next week for his checkup. Today was a preliminary checkup and nail clipping. At the vet, there were these baby pugs, maybe 3 or 4 weeks old. Holy geebus they were cute!
9. After the vet, we brought Ocha home. Then Yoko and I went out to eat at a delicious, yet cheap yakiniku restaurant.
10. I have had a great day. I feel very good tonight. Tomorrow is my last day of teaching, and I really only have to teach in 1 lesson. The other 3 are skit performances. Woooooo!

I can't change my mode

For July 12, 2006

1. Last night, I slept with the light on in my room to keep cockroaches away… The light kept me from sleeping well, but it was comforting. Did I ever tell you about the time at my parent’s house years ago when I was sleeping on my bed, and a roach crawled onto my face! Yeah. I couldn’t sleep in my room for about a week!! So, that kinda explains why I may be a bit irrational when it comes to bugs, especially roaches.
2. My cooking lesson was cancelled today. Apparently the students decided that they wanted to have a party instead, since it’s the last class with me ever. It was very fun! Both special classes combined for this party. First, Ryoto and Mao gave a mini-speech. Then, we played cards for a little bit. Then, Junko-sensei taught us to make paper airplanes and we went and had a contest in the library to see who could throw theirs the farthest. Then we came back and sang some songs… 2 Japanese ones and one English one. The English one was a struggle because no one knew the words (for then cuz it was in English and for me cuz it was a Carpenter’s song…). Then Teroyoshi and Homare gave a speech. Then Mi-chan. Then it was over. It was cute!
3. After class, Yukia-kun, a boy who only babbles nonsense when you try to talk to him, asked to show me some of his English homework. He had been practicing converting katakana words into English. His theme: fighting beetles. He then proceeded to give me a thorough explanation on about 25 different breeds, where they came from, and what kind of attack they have. I think it’s from a card game here. It was so funny. He never wants to talk or even attempt ANYTHING in English, but today he wanted to explain to me about these beetles. Granted, I understood about 3% of what he said… but it was nice.

You gave me a heart attack; I did not see you there.

1. This morning I was in a SERIOUS funk again. But, I had mid-morning classes at elementary school, so that cheered me up.
2. At elementary school, between my two lessons, they held a goodbye ceremony for me. It was cute. Some of the classes re-enacted some of my lessons. Others performed on recorders. One did a dance.
3. I went to a Thai cooking class tonight. We made lots of delicious food and I ate a TON!
4. This one is VERY BAD news, but it needs to be mentioned. Tonight when I came home, I found TWO VERY HUGE LIVE cockroaches in my sink! I sprayed the hell out of them, thereby condemning my newly washed dished to another wash in the sink. God, I hate cockroaches! Seriously! UGH UGH UGH! God, I hope they aren’t running rampant in my home without me knowing about it. Ugh.

Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me

I was in a bit of a funk all day. All day, that is, until Ikebana. For some reason it makes me feel more optimistic. Today I spent a lot of my day feeling angry at Tanbara. I know it’s a bit strange to be angry at a whole town, but it can happen. The post office about killed me with their lack of attention to detail. Then everyone has been rude and grumpy all day. Maybe it’s the weather. But Ikebana always cheers me up. I tried a new style tonight and it was hard. Sensei did most of it while I watched. Next time is my last, so she is giving me a small goodbye party. How sweet!

1. For some reason, they decided to have cleaning time first thing this morning. So, instead of helping like a nice person, I went in the tatami room and napped. I ended up sleeping through the entire 1^st period.
2. After my nap, I came back to the staff room to prepare for my FINAL lesson with one of the 2-nensei classes…and it turns out it’s been cancelled! YES!!!!!! I was surprised, but it was definitely a good surprise.
3. A huge bee flew into the staff room today. When I say huge, I mean HUGE. It was like a wasp on steroids. It was NO JOKE the size of my thumb! That’s a damn big bee. This country has some of the biggest bugs ever, geebus! Last night I saw a spider near my mailbox that was almost the size of my palm.
4. We decorated wind chimes in my special class today. Homare got excited and accidentally smashed it into the table. It shattered into a bajillion pieces. He got very stressed and started yelling a bit. Luckily, I had an extra wind chime because Shiori-chan was absent from school. So, crisis solved. He was much more careful the second time.
5. This isn’t a good thing, but it gives you a hint of how much I don’t like my job. I can count on ONE hand the people from my school that I will possibly miss. Honestly, I really can’t wait to leave Higashi. I was sad about leaving Nishi, but I am not even SLIGHTLY sad about leaving this school.
6. Ahh ikebana. Thank you for curing my grump.

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

July 8, 2006

1. I played with Ocha for a long time today. He was extra jumpy. I think he was really happy because it was a sunny day.
2. I went to Duncan’s concert in Matsuyama. I rode there with Yoko, Rich, and John. It was very funny. Yoko and Rich still kinda pretend in our area that they aren’t going out. But it was cute in Mats to see them hold hands and stuff.
3. I got all dolled up for the concert. I looked pretty hot. It was exciting.

July 9, 2006

1. Today I watched Spirited away while playing on the computer.
2. At lunch time, Yoko and I rented Big Fish. Then, we went to Marunaka and bought some groceries. Then, I cooked Yoko (and later one, Rich) my Honey-Parmesan chicken pasta. They enjoyed it, which pleased me greatly.
3. Yoko and I watched Big Fish before Rich came over. Every time I see it, I cry. It’s just such a lovely movie.
4. I’ve watched a billion Hard Gay episodes on You Tube today. It’s been funny. He is such a crackhead. I love it!
5. Rich and Yoko discovered a HUGE spider and spider web on my back porch today. I named her Beatrice. I’ve always liked that name for some reason.

If I don't got my socks on right, they slide right off of my feet

July 6, 2006

1. During one of my elementary school classes, some of my Junior High 2-nensei boys were in the class with me as a work experience. IT was weird. 2/3 of the boys there were some of the shit-heads. So, that was interesting. Anyway, because they were there and the students were so excited to have the visitors, the class was psychotic.
2. I booked my travel details all by myself yesterday, all in Japanese! That’s quite an accomplishment! I have to get Ocha and me from Tanbara all the way to Tokyo. Then, Ocha will stay in a pet hotel while I go and visit David. I will be in Sapporo from the evening of July 27^th (Karl’s Birthday!!!) until the very wee hours of August 7^th. My plane leaves Sapporo at 7:35AM on the 7^th. Ugh! That means I will have to leave David’s apartment at around 5am or something like that. Gross! But, it’s all good. I am happy to get to go visit David again. :o)
3. I watched the last of my 5 rentals: Life is Beautiful. I enjoyed it. It was certainly not at all what I had expected. I think out of that batch of five movies that I rented, my favorite was My Life Without Me.
4. I went shopping and bought myself a nice small summer travel purse. No more big clunker with shit I don’t need in it. Just the basics, for the summer.

July 7, 2006

1. We had a slice of watermelon with lunch! Oh, we also had WHEAT BREAD! That’s amazing! It’s pretty rare in these parts. In my year of eating school lunch, it was the first bread day that we had non-white bread.
2. I booked my hostel for Tokyo, Ocha’s pet hotel for my trip to Sapporo, and Ocha’s reservation for Quarantine. I did it all by phone on my breaks. But, every place I called was in Tokyo, so someone spoke English each time. :o) But still, that was 3 things I got to cross off my mega-long to-do list. I am whittling it away.
3. My 2-nensei class got cancelled today! That’s like the best news in a long time! Hehe. Man, I was so glad not to have to teach those kids. They are out doing work experience today.
4. 1 more week of teaching, and then no more for me. I won’t miss the school part of my time here. But, I will miss the rest of my time. Going to school was the price to pay for living and experiencing Japan.
5. I went over to Duncan’s for dinner. Yuka cooked us a delicious meal which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then we watched the movie about the traveling pants. It was aiite.
6. Tonight John is coming over and we are going to watch Animal House and drink some Jack.

Do these dreams have any meaning?

1. This morning when I woke up, I was SO hungover. I didn’t even want to move. Luckily, once I did start moving, it went away…gradually.
2. I wore my purple dress to work today. It’s raining, but I don’t care. I wanted to dress pretty today.
3. I woke up and watched Ever After for a bit. I naturally woke up around 6:30, so I had time to sit and watch a bit of a movie. It was a nice way to wake up.
4. I got July 18, 21, and 24^th off work so I can clean my apartment! It’s going to take that long! Ugh!
5. My birthday is in 17 days!
6. I went to Richard’s with Yoko for dinner. We ate huge hamburger steaks. Geebus, I’m still painfully full 3 hours later.
7. Yoko taught me how to give hand massages. Woo!

He said, "You be Debbie Harry; I'll be Joey Ramone."

1. Tonight I went over to Raul’s to celebrate 4^th of July. It was Raul, John, and I.
2. We drank 5-6 bottles of wine between us and then some chu-his.
3. Raul and I taught John how to do “Yo mama” jokes. John isn’t American.
4. Also, because John isn’t American, Raul and I sang the Star Spangled Banner after shooting firework off in the rain.
5. I rode my bicycle home. In the dark. In the rain. With no umbrella. Wearing no glasses (cuz of the rain). While drunk. And survived. Woo!

You look through your personal window just to see me

1. In my 2-nensei class, we did a project where we were re-writing the textbook in our own way, using Anpanman, a famous Japanese cartoon character, as a main character. Anyway, at the end, I asked the kids to write their names on it. One boy, Kohei, wrote Kohei *heart* Abie. Haha. It was so funny! I never thought I’d have a student get a crush on me.
2. I did a cooking lesson with my special needs class today. We made chocolate chip cookies. It was WONDERFUL! Teroyoshi and Homare just sat and watched the oven to wait for the 9 minutes to be up. The other kids, Ryoto especially, were MEGA-keen to help out (a rareity, I assure you). It was fun AND I got out of cleaning time for it because our cookies weren’t quite finished yet. Double yeah.
3. Tonight I went over to Duncan’s for tea. He played me a song he wrong about Ehime with some catchy and funny lyrics. His next project is to write a song for his girlfriend, Yuka. But he is having trouble thinking up lyrics. I told him about the song David used to sing to me (“She’s got red hair and glasses…”), but I am not a musical person, so I couldn’t explain the riff, even though I can hear it just fine in my head.

I looked at you with the focus I gave to my birthday candles

1. Today I stayed in the house for a long time, playing Sims and playing with Ocha. It was nice to just hang out.
2. Tonight I went to Raul’s for a 4^th of July party. There were about 14 or so people there. We ate delicious hamburgers (with hamburger buns!!! – they are mega rare) and potato salad, American Style. Then, we went out and set off fireworks for a while. The kids and…well, the grown-ups too, really enjoyed that!
3. There was a little 6 year old girl there who looked just like the 6-year old, girl, Japanese version of my old roomie Stephen. It was really random.
4. I am going to go to bed super early tonight. Well, at 11. That’s early-ish. After leaving the party and being around people, I’m feeling a bit lonely. I need to sleep it away as best as I can.
   

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

1. My 4 lessons yesterday didn’t go by fast by any means, but they are done with. 5^th and 6^th period had been cancelled for a student assembly of some sort, so I skipped it and played the Sims! :oD
2. We played BINGO in all 4 classes. At my apartment I had this bag full of random stuff that I don’t want to keep and can’t throw away… So, I brought it to school and used those things as prizes for the bingo winners. They were so excited to win the random crap.
3. I forgot to bring my medicine to work yesterday, so I had to go home after lunch to grab it. It was nice to have a short break from school, even if it was only for 15 minutes.
4. Last night I called Rich and invited myself over. I ended up hanging out and just talking to Rich for 3 hours! We talked about a lot. Well, I mostly listened. He has so many interesting stories to tell. I think he may turn his life story into a book.
5. Before going to Richard’s, I rented some movies. I’ve decided that today (Saturday) is a movie day. I got Vera Drake, Elizabethtown, Lemony Snicket, Life is Beautiful, and My Life Without Me. I just picked up movies at random that looked like they could be English. This time, I did check to make sure they were all English! Rented 5 movies for only 1050yen! That’s about 9 bucks! Not too bad, eh?
6. I just watched 3 movies (in this order): Elizabethtown, Lemony Snicket, and My Life Without Me. The First two were a bit of a let down. All right, but I don't really care if I see them again. The third was very sad, but very good. It's about a girl who (is 23) and finds out that she has cancer and only has 2 months left to live. Very amazing film.
7. I also just watched Vera Drake. Wow, I knew I would cry, and I did! A great film! Very sad, though. Sometimes doing something out of the kindness of your own heart can backfire...
   

One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams.

1. I went to the doctor today. He said I have Acute Gastritis. Apparently it’s when your digestive systems gets pissed off about something and stops wanting to work well. It was funny cuz one of my symptoms is appetite loss. So, he wrote (in English) on his note pad, “Loss of Appetite = anorexia.” He can’t have thought I was anorexic! Strange thought, be being anorexic.
2. I went to Joyfull with Duncan and forced myself to eat a big meal (from which I am still full, 4 hours later!) so I could take my pills. I have to start forcing myself to eat 3 meals a day so I can take the pills. I just don’t feel like eating, so it’s rough. Or, I think it will be. :o)
3. I played The Sims 2 for about an hour tonight.
4. I ate a cookie with walnuts in it for dessert. It was quite yummy.

To carry love to your doorstep

1. Today I finished my lesson for tomorrow. Well, not entirely, yet. Soon, hopefully.
2. During my Japanese lesson, I was telling Namioka-sensei about how Yoko gave me an amazing massage last night. She asked, “Was she good at it?” I said yeah, and she said, “Me too!” and Then proceeded to show me how good she was! I got an awesome hand and arm massage and then she did my back for a bit too! 2 massages in 2 days. Wow!
3. So, I wasn’t able to go to the hospital today. I will try and go tomorrow. So, it’s really up and down. At times I feel fine, and then I get a weird dizzy spell. Anyway, tonight, Yoko and I left volleyball early (I was score keeper today cuz I’m not well) because I was feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous. Richard just called and said that Yoko told him we left early cuz of my condition and he was just letting me know that if I need help or anything, he’s there for me. What a good guy!

Stretches out like branches of a poplar tree; She says, I'm free

1. Last night’s Ikebana was really hard. I tried a different kind of bowl. I’ve gotten good at the one style, Moribana, so last night I tried something new. Man, it was so hard! I eventually did it, but it was just ok, not good. Boooo! For those of you who don’t know, which I imagine it’s most of ya! ;o), with Ikebana, each different shape of bowl follows very different rules. It’s super confusing. And each aspect of the arrangement has a different name, whether it’s the long wiggly piece or the short clump at the bottom. They all have very technical names. It’s confusing, but interesting at the same time.
   
2. I got a little sunburned today from standing outside for under 30 minutes.
   
3. I went to Sushi with Duncan and Rich tonight. Yoko called Rich during the middle of dinner. She was at Fuji, right next door, so she came and joined us.
4. After dinner Yoko and Rich came over and we ate fruit and watched Nausicaa.
5. After the movie, Yoko gave me an amazing massage. She did my back, shoulders, arms, hands, and head. Oh man, it was good. More than good. It was amazing. More than amazing.
6. Tomorrow, Yoko is going to take me to the hospital. Don’t worry, they don’t g to doctor’s here. They go to the hospital instead. I have been feeling very ill for the past week or so. I’ve been really nauseous and getting sudden sharp headaches. I’ve also been getting dizzy a LOT. So, she said she’d take me tomorrow after work. I’m not quite sure what is wrong with me. I am paranoid, so that doesn’t help at all. I’ll let you know if it’s anything big.

I'll only lie down by the waterside at night

Weekend recap happies plus today’s daily happy

1. Saturday, I went to David T’s art exhibit in Niihama with Yoko and Richard. David’s work is so amazing! I wish I could have bought a painting while I was there. Richard and I were discussing how completely proud we are that he has done this. He has not only painted beautiful images since he’s been here, but he’s arranged a beautiful display for them. It’s quite an undertaking in your home country, but to pull it off in Japan, that’s truly amazing.
2. Saturday night, I went to a party at David T’s house. Strip Janken (paper rock scissors) was played by some people. It was a strange evening, but fun.
3. Saturday night, I crashed at David T’s place. Sunday, David T and I both overslept, so we missed out on the Zazen Meditation. I did have a dream though, that I was sleeping on a futon in David’s room (just like I did) and woke up, looked at him and then the clock. It was 8:00. I said, “I guess we’ve missed it, huh?” And then, after that dream, I opened my eyes and it happened! It was weird to have a deja vous minutes before it actually happening!
4. But when we did get up, we made blueberry pancakes and chatted until he had to go to his art show for the day. I waited a while, then went to Mister Donut’s to get a yummy and wait for Yoko and Richard.
5. Yoko and Rich met up with me around 11:45. We chilled out until it was time to go to the Japanese Speech Contest. Rich and Duncan were both competing. They both did very well, I thought. It was a bit hard for me, cuz it was 3 hours of listening to speeches in a language that I can barely understand. But, it was good. Duncan ended up winning the viewer’s choice award for his speech.
6. Afterwards, we went to a coffee shop with some people, and then headed back. The 3 of us played with Ocha for a while. But, Rich isn’t good with animals, so Ocha freaks him out.
7. After the two of them went home, I played online for a while, then went to bed around 11. I fell asleep to the sound of rain.
8. I just ate 2 pieces of pumpkin tempura. They were good. Ocha was jealous that he couldn’t have any.
9. Tonight is ikebana, I think. That’s good news.

I thought it was a bird, but it was just a paper bag

1. Today in my 3-nensei classes, the stuents performed short skits. These skits are an evaluation that Yumiko (my English teacher) likes. Anyway, this time, I gave each group a scene/theme and they had to write their skit around that. One group got “Meeting Hard Gay.” So, today, I got 3 minutes of Hard Gay humping hilarity! I wish I could have taken a movie of it…but had I had a camera, they would’ve been much shyer. Oh man, it was funny. 3 boys in front of the whole class, humping away like their hero, HG. Who is Hard Gay, you ask yourself. Well, he is hilarious.
2. I played the Harry Potter Game today in elementary school. Wow. They went INSANE for it. It was fun and I got a good 25 minute high-impact workout out of it too!
3. Tonight I went to dinner with Yoko and her friend Eri-chan. We went to the Italian restaurant in Toyo (remember, David, the nice one with the delicious cheese pasta that we went to with the crew?) It was excellent. And even though the cheese pasta wasn’t on the menu anymore, they made it special for us! Yay!

And you will see my face

1. Last night I went to “watch fireflies” with some people. The Japanese word for “firefly” sounds a lot like hotel. In Japanese, hotel is Hoteru. Firefly is Hotaru. Hm. Very close, indeed. It was funny because there were maybe 4 or so lightening bugs around. But those Japanese girls were SO excited to see them. I guess it’s different for me. I used to catch tons when I was a kid. They would crap themselves to see all the ones back home.
2. I watched 2 short episodes of Pinky and the Brain this morning.
3. In my special lesson, we watched some of Monster’s Inc. I didn't feel like doing a planned lesson today.
   
4. There are only 49 more days until I leave Japan. I will miss many people here, and many things about here…but lately being in Japan has been one of the hardest times of my life. I am ready to go home and get hugs from my family and friends. I need so many hugs, just to warn you all. A year's worth, to be exact!

Get 6 jolly cowboys to carry my coffin

1. I ate macaroni and cheese for lunch and I’m going to eat it again for breakfast.
2. I watched a program on Polar Bears that I rented from Tsutaya.
3. My hair is a darker, non-permanent, color. I think I like it. I just felt like a small, short change.
4. I am going to go to bed early tonight. 10pm is quite early to go to bed. But, I am tired of being awake.

Don't you know that I belong arm-in-arm with you, baby?

1. I had to go to school today. But it wasn’t so bad. It was parent’s day, so everyone was out of the staff room all morning. While they listened to some lecture on getting ginto highschool and then human rights, I was planning a bunch of my upcoming lessons. Woo! I haven’t planned them all yet, but I got quite a few done this morning.
2. I came home for lunch. When I went back to work, I decided to turn my brain off. So, I played the Sims until it was time for me to go home.
3. At 5:30, John came over and we made pasta together for dinner. Then he ate some pumpkin bread. I ate more. I just love the stuff!
4. I am researching graduate degrees tonight. It’s really depressing for me. I want to go to NYU more than any school, even the one in London! But to study at NYU will cost me more than expected! About $60,000! I can’t do that! So impossible! PLUS living expenses and housing!!! I am pretty sad bout it. It really is the best program in the world for what I want…but it’s also impossible. And they don’t offer TAships or anything like that, really, since they are so well-known and amazing. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

I don't know, but I lay down on the ground

1. At the little grocery store near my house, I saw one of my elementary students. He ran up and we tried to high five, but we both missed. It was so silly. He started to run off back to his grandmother, when I said “Let’s try again!” That time, we had a running start for our high five, and we nailed it!
2. Today I made pumpkin bread. It was delicious. I’ve eaten a lot of it today. Tomorrow John is coming over, I think. I will try and make him eat a lot of it, then, so I won’t have eaten all of it! (That’s not true; Stacey had a piece, today. So, I won’t have eaten the whole thing! Ha ha!!)
3. I played The Sims today, for the first time in a while. I’m going to do so again in a few minutes.
4. Stacey came over today. We chatted about lots of random stuff, and then we watched Mansfield Park. It’s very enjoyable to watch girly movies with girls. They just get so into them!

I watched you taking off

1. This week, I’ve been working on this game for my 1-nensei class. Well, it went GREAT! The kids had a great time playing it. It was fun an involved them giving me their left shoes, bringing rolls of toilet paper, and shouting “nose picker” off the balcony. It was a total success! I guess to make up for that going so well, my 2-nensei class was worse than every. Ugh they suck. But I’m still very happy about my successful Congo Bongo game.
2. I have this student named Shiori. I’m sure I’ve talked about her before. It seems that out of my top 5 students in the school, 3 of them are special needs kids. Shiori is one of those. She is the girl that just doesn’t talk. Not in English, not in Japanese, not ever! But she is so sweet! She draws me pictures and makes it a point to “say hello” to me in the hallway (without actually saying hello at all!). She ate lunch in the teacher’s room today, so I sat and chatted at/to her for a while. It’s just so beautiful, the smile she gives. It’s such a big smile! Since she doesn’t talk, she has that to express her inner beauty. She is great!
3. During lunch they played the song that goes, “I don’t wanna lose your love toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.” Know the one? From the 80s? It was pretty silly. I tried to explain to the teachers how funny it was for me to hear it at school, but I couldn’t really do that. Damn. But I laughed to myself. That was good enough for me.
4. I downloaded Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit. I may watch that tonight. John invited me out, so I may save W&G for Saturday night. I am gonna relax Saturday night, because I have school on Sunday. Ugh, parent’s day. A full day where I have NOTHING to do AND I’m at school ON THE WEEKEND! Boooooooo! Ahh well. I will Sim it up, I think.
5. Tonight I met Rich, Duncan, and Duncan’s friend Ian for sushi for dinner. Now, I am going to head over to John’s apartment to watch a movie with him and a few other people.
6. I bought my ticket home to America today! I arrive in Atlanta on August 9^th at 3:05pm. And, I arrive with Ocha! The lil bun CAN come with! I am so excited! I don’t think my parents are though. Ahh well! :oD

If all of these dreams find their way into my day to day scene

1. School was ok today. I didn’t really do anything in my 4 classes at junior high besides edit some skits. Man, some of the English the kids come up with is pretty awesome.
2. Tonight I went to dinner with Yoko and Rich to the yakiniku place nearby. Rich and I had a laugh when we ordered the “long wiener” (a 60cm wiener to cook up!). But the real laugh was when Rich complimented Yoko on the fact that she can cut wieners into octopus or crab shapes… and she said “I am a Wiener Technician.” It was amazing.
3. After dinner, we rented Anchorman and watched it over at my place. It was a good movie. Funny and pointless and silly. We all had a good laugh with it.

What’s buried underneath where I am?

1. I had 3 very good lessons today. My first class of the day began at 8:15 this morning! I had to go to elementary school for 1^st and 2^nd period (to make us for the lessons I missed while I was in Sapporo). It was great! I love little kids! 2^nd graders are just so damn cute!
2. I pawned two lessons off to Toda-sensei today. We have 5 classes left together, so I asked him if he would prepare two of them. So we are gonna do something science-y. I’m excited!
3. I am beginning my preparations for leaving Japan. It’s a LOT of work, but it’s ok. Friday, I’m gonna buy my plane ticket. I called Delta and they said I can take Ocha with me!! But, I have a TON of paperwork and vet visits and stuff to do with it.
4. I went to volleyball with Yoko tonight. Turns out it got cancelled. So, Yoko, Rich, and I went to Joyfull (the Japanese Denny’s) instead and hung out. Richard made a funky paper airplane with which we played with in the parking lot for about 45 minutes! Tanoshikatta!

The lady on the edge of town, she's putting that money down

June 12, 2006

1. At 5:01 this morning, I felt my very first earthquake. It was a 6.1 on the Richter’s Scale. I remember waking up because my whole apartment was swaying back and forth, pretty fast. I could hear lil Ocha freaking out in his cage. Must’ve scared him something good. I remember looking at my keitai so I could remember the time of my first earthquake. It was so weird! One of my first thoughts to myself was whether or not there would be a tsunami with it. There wasn’t, luckily.
2. I think I am finished teaching. Today I had to seriously fight myself over coming to work. I really am jut done with teaching. I have no ideas or inspiration for it anymore. I am just empty. I only have about 6 weeks left. Wow! Only 6 weeks! But, really, I can’t wait for them to be up.
3. Random thought from my flight back to Matsuyama on Saturday. So, for some reason, whether a flight is 2 hours or 15, it feels the same, really. When my plane landed in Mats, I really thought for a split second that I was in America. It was so weird. Then, when I got into the airport and realized where I was, I got a moment of depression. I was so ready to just land in America.
4. I feel fairly accomplished today. I created a board game for my 1-nensei and 2-nensei students. I made it pretty much from scratch! Are you proud? I sure am! I stole the idea form online, but I modified it special for my classes. It’s called Congo Bongo! Woo woo!
5. I am trying my best this week to finish all of my lesson preparation for the next few weeks. Including weekends, I only have 42 days left. That is exactly 6 weeks from today. I have so much to do between now and then, but that impossible amount of stuff feels like nothing. I’m sure my last few weeks will be pure madness. But for now, I am kinda pretending that there’s nothing I can do now.
6. My 2-nensei boys think my name (Abigail) is very funny. Today one team chose “AG” as their team name because they couldn’t spell Abigail, so AG was good enough. Since they were AG, the other 2 teams were HG (Hard Gay) and RG (Real Gay). HG won, so I got to yell “Wooooooooooooooooooo! HG wins!!!!!!!!!” That was fun. I didn’t do the accompanying humping motion that goes along with HG.

June 13, 2006

Yesterday I forgot to post my daily, so I will just do 2 today. Sorry!

1. Last night I watched my first World Cup game at Duncan’s house. Everyone was rooting for Japan (because half the people there were Japanese!), so I decided to root for Australia. Well, as it turns out, they won. Good job Australia! :o) I never seem to have a specific team I follow for any sporting competition. I just root for whoever I decide that day I happen to like. It happened to be Australia last night.
2. Today I feel a bit restless and a tad bit annoyed. Not really badly, but a little bit. It’s not a good thing, really, but still worth mentioning. Duncan showed me pictures last night of when he was taking care of Ocha for me. Apparently he let a group of elementary students in my house to play with Ocha. I tried not to be mad about it last night, but I am certainly ticked about it right now. I really wish he would think, sometimes. Ocha is a big secret, he knows that. I have no clue what my landlord will do when he finds out. And I have no doubt that he will. Tanbara is an itty bitty town where word travels. And 3^rd and 4^th grade girls are NOT the best people at keeping secrets. Neither is Duncan. But, it was nice of him to care for Ocha every day in my absence. I will just hope that Saiki-san doesn’t find out.
3. I just finished reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. It was a very fast read. It started off slightly slow, but once I got a little bit into it, it zoomed by. But after reading his books, I always feel a little bit ill. I do now. And while reading them, to be honest. He is just so graphic at times.
4. My elementary lessons were both BRILLANT! It’s such a great feeling to have a great lesson where everyone laughs and smiles the whole time. I needed it today. I was feeling very blah. I’m glad that they went well. Working with kids always cheers me up.
5. I got a very short email from David. It made me smile so hard. What a star!
6. Tonight I met Richard for dinner at a Chinese place in Toyo. It was yummy.
   

Don’t let yourself go

Sorry I haven’t updated this in a while. I was in Sapporo all last week, hanging with David. I had a great time being with him. It was really nice! Ok, so this post really won’t be so cohesive. It will be all mixed up in terms of dates and times. That’s ok, right?

1. Saturday, I was driven to the airport early by my old Vice-principal and his wife. They are such a random couple. No joke, their conversations on the way to the airport were; “It’s windy. Look at the wind blow in the trees.” “Yeah.” Hehe. Silly!
2. I was nervous to get to Sapporo, but when I saw David I was very happy. I missed him a whole lot. We found my hotel and then wandered around Odori Park for a while. It’s such a beautiful park and a beautiful city. I definitely immediately understood why David likes it.
3. Tuesday night, we walked around the city in search of yakiniku. We eventually found one, and it was delicious! We also were playing around with the idea of opening a yakiniku restaurant in the States. I think it’d work. KachiKachi is what we’d call it. KachiKachi means burnt in Japanese. Then, we went to a huge fancy Karaoke place. David and I sang our little hearts out to all sorts of random music. We were definitely on a randomness kick that night, which was excellent! Also, we did a magical thing called “Nomihodai,” which is basically all you can drink. So, David got a pitcher of beer for himself (since it was included) and we drank quite a bit. It was fun!
4. Wednesday was David’s day off of work, so we did a lot of stuff that day! We went to Maruyama, which is the area of Sapporo in which he works. We went to Maruyama Park, which was nice and green! In Maruyama Park is Hokkaido Shrine. It was a beautiful shrine, and we saw a Japanese couple in their wedding outfits getting photographed. Seriously, Japanese women in kimonos are amazingly beautiful. After the park, we went up to Maruyama Zoo, which was fun. I love going to zoos. We saw lions, monkeys, tigers, a hippo, giraffes, a baby polar bear, and many other animals! I want to go to the Atlanta Zoo again when I am back home.
5. Thursday was David’s busy, busy day. I was going to visit this little town called Furano, which is famous for its flowers. But, it rained all day! Boo! So, I went to the aquarium in Sapporo, which was fun. It’s very small. Nothing at all to the Tennessee Aquarium, but it was still nice. I sat and watched two seals play for a long time. Then, I went shopping at Shin-Sapporo station and eventually, after much searching, I found a mini-section of a shop that has plus-size clothes! So I bought a denim jacket, some shorts, and a very nice top! Woo, I was excited!
6. I was able to go to two of David’s lessons. One was a group of elementary aged kids. We did a lil restaurant skit, which was fun. The other class was with just one girl named Kana. She was really cool. It was really neat for me to finally get to see David in the classroom. He’s very good with his students. :oD
7. To be honest, the best parts of my trip were when it was just David and I chillin out. It was very good to sit next to him and wrestle him and lick his face and all the other fun ways to bother him. ;oP

Namioka-sensei just called to wish me a safe journey. What a wonderful lady!