Action shots!!

How about some action shots of Melissa at work?

The kid hiding his face is um, ACTIVE but this past week, we had a GREAT CLASS. So, hoping the good behavior continues.

Naomi loves yelling at me to stand up straight. I was explaining this phrase to my students and I posed as a joke -- and she somehow managed to capture it on film. PS- my shirt is tucked into my skirt so I've got a funky granny pantie going on.... but it's my T-SHIRT.

Today, I traveled and bought a PS3! It's white. White must be THE IT color this year in Japan. I mean, the guy didn't even offer the black one.... only the white. I had to bike it home and that was a challenge. Then I set it up and configured the internet (oh I am such a genius, I love me). And then it was time to vacuum and other things. Tomorrow's entry, I will share with you the joys of ham. Yes, ham that you eat on a sandwich.

Typhoon Roke has landed

The things I do for my dad....

It's so windy and this does not give you the full effect. Plus it's blurry because well, it's raining. Really bad. I think I ruined my shoes walking home from the train station. And my apartment building has a leak in the hallway... but thankfully no rainal leakage in Melissa's apartment!!!! ..... yet. My dad just wanted to hear the typhoon.... nothing too exciting to hear, sorry Dad :/

I'm prepared for emergency!

First, I was going to write about how this woman came in with 3 little boys for a level check with the new teacher, and how I managed to keep them calm and quiet, and had the baby telling me all about Pikachu and the noises he makes which was SO CUTE.
And then I was going to tell you that my boss made me ... angry because she didn't like the lesson plans I spent an hour working on.
But finally, I thought I should share with you this:

This is Typhoon Roke, currently a Category 4. Yeah, that's a big one!! Bigger than Talas. This one WILL hit Aomori, and we have an advisory up, but EVERYONE else below has a warning. Now, I would be happy and excited and all of that -- and I am, but this is also going to directly hit Fukushima. I don't know what will happen. I can't imagine it will tear open the reactors and stuff will start pouring into the air. But the prefecture's warning contains lots of disheartening terms including: gale, storm surge, high waves, and heavy rain. Actually stopping to think of this right now makes my stomach hurt, so I'm not going to.
It'll be fine. They have it under control, it's just leakage they are struggling with right now, yeah?
I'll keep you updated as long as the power is on. Apparently the north tends to lose power because our lines are wimpy. Don't worry Mom, I have my flashlights and canned foods, water and blankets. And I can probably still call you tomorrow night on Skype on my way home from work (it's my travel night)!!
Plus, knowing my luck, NOTHING will happen and we won't even get the typhoon!

Davy Jones, Giant Squid!

Believe me, I definitely don't miss summer here.
But it sure left in a hurry.
Today, and for the NEXT WEEK AT LEAST, it will rain. Every day. This evening was the first time it stopped raining in 2 days. Our temperatures have been low - today got up to like, 60. And I tried so hard to be a tough girl, but after waking up from my mid-morning nap, I pulled out the baby heaters and cranked them. Tonight they're both set on automatic and I am sleeping in sweats. WITH SOCKS. Can't imagine how I'll be in the middle of January with a few feet of snow on the ground!
My dad finally decided to get Direct TV once I moved out (I forgot to thank you for that, Dad) and I'm trying to get a feel for the remote thousands of miles away. I HAPPILY woke up at 5:15 AM to watch the Broncos BEAT the bungles today!
YES. YEAAAAAH!!! Whoa... 'bungles' is apparently a real word. Blogger recognizes it... that's funny. Anyway, I was whooping it up at an incredibly early hour and was getting angry, but in the end, my team won and I'm happy. Bragging rights until the next time they face each other.
That's it. Japan's holiday happy this week, today was a holiday and so is Friday. That is great because it's my 3 hour business class. So, GOOD NEWS! NO WORK!!!! :)
Next post I will try to use some pictures.

Japan's rockin' itself out!!

It's been quite some time since we've had our last earthquake here in Aomori (I'm talking a few weeks, people) and the earth valiantly made up for our shake-free society earrrly this morning:
4:26am  Magnitude 6.3
6:08am  Magnitude 5.9
6:36am  Magnitude 5.7
7:41am  Magnitude 5.7
And for just FOR THE FUN OF IT, we had another one today at 4:34pm that was a Magnitude 5.6.
I am completely exhausted. Even the people of Japan, who are used to this kind of thing, all woke up multiple times early this morning. It doesn't help that most of us have our cell phones set to alert us to larger scale earthquakes - they make such a lovely, NOISY chime. This kind of occurrence is not normal. Literally, the earth just kept moving and moving. They weren't super violent, but I could hear the crap in the metal closets outside my door banging around. Only when they stopped did I know the shaking was over. Doesn't mean my body thought that way ... nearly slammed into the door on my way to the potty during/after? the first earthquake.
Please, earth.... no more tonight. I wanna sleep!!!

No life anymore.

I wish I could say I've been so busy doing great things and that I have an interesting update for you all...
but I don't.
Just work and work and more work and I'M REALLY TIRED OF WORKING ALL THE TIME. Can't wait until my parents come and I can have a nice break. Especially from my company classes... todays was actually kind of -dare I say- fun. FINALLY I'm seeing personalities and I'm loving that some of the students throw their voices when they role play conversations. Normally I'm the only one and so that makes it more fun. Plus there was one girl today who busted out her Nintendo games and we had a talk in English/Japanese. New Mario Kart December 1st (here in Japan)!!
I have also learned my days of the week:
getsuyobi, kayobi, suiyobi, mokuyobi, kin'yobi, doyobi, nichiyobi. Hah! Did that WITHOUT LOOKING!!
Nothing else is new, just been hanging out with the new guy, Jonathan.
This was kind of cool, nice sunset tonight outside of our building:

Took that with my iPhone! Pretty nifty huh?!

massive update... sorry everyone!

Time for an update isn't it?!
My business classes were pretty great. Wednesday's classes were super fun and the advanced group has some extremely well spoken individuals. Plus, a few of the guys love soccer - like me! Thursday was okay, I won't be teaching that class, and all of the men were busy, so it ended up being a private lesson with me and some pretty important guy in the company. And Friday was painful for the first hour, but it got a bit better and I even made the students laugh when we looked at a role playing exersize about how to re-act over birthday presents. Going around Japan this past week... it's indescribably beautiful. On one side of the train, I look out over a small (REALLY) small town and on the other is such a dense forest. It's really like something out of a movie.
Funny, on Wednesday, I was so terrified. And I was sitting on my train, trying not to get motion sick, when Hirosaki's stop came up... and out of the window was a massive rainbow. Just, possibly the biggest one I've ever seen. And I know WHY they appear, but I like to think it was a message from The Big Man telling me it's going to be alright. THANKS.
Our new teacher is here and he's great. He has nothing, just like me. So Friday night I took him out to dinner and today we (plus our schools secretaries) went shopping at the home improvement store... I BOUGHT A REALLY SWEET CHAIR!! It's like one of those 'on the ground' chairs for playing video games - but it also completely fits in with the Japanese lifestyle so now maybe my neck won't hurt after staring at my computer for so long. It's coming tomorrow.
I ALSO BOUGHT AN AIR PUMP FOR MY BIKE! HOORAY!! THIS SPONGE IS STILL MOBILE!!!!
PS- I also also watched the 9/11 coverage. I said I wasn't, because I watched it all like, 2 years ago and bawled my eyes out. But I felt like I had to because I'm not home this year. It was beautiful and I cried again. A LOT. I even wore black today in the memory... wishin' I was home :/

So busy!!

Sorry people - I've been a bit busy. Tomorrow I will hopefully have some time to sit down and write all about my business classes and our new teacher!! Things are going good, so I've got that goin' for me. 9/11 isn't a big deal here, but you better believe I will be remembering on my Sunday night. Still a bit miffed at my mom who decided to leave me in school that day (JEEZE MOM!) Nah, I'm kidding. Or am I? ;)

Good dreams too!

Keeping up with my dream posts.... for every sad, WEIRD dream, I have some great and funny ones too.
Last night starred some of the teachers I used to work with back at CPS. And I remember lots of us were carpooling to get a feel of the area because they built a new road (?) but there were lots of NEW teachers, because this year = change for the school (in real life too). And I was in the backseat of some van with this mystery CUTE guy, and one of the other teachers in ANOTHER van was giving me grief through the window. Then we stopped for hamburgers at some shack and .... stuff got kind of blurry/weird but I woke up with a laugh.
But then if I think about it and the people too much I get really sad. MOVIN' ON TO PREVENT THE TEARS!
Tomorrow is my first day at my SHORTER business. I'm a little excited because I get to travel! On 2 trains!! I hope I don't get lost, and I hope I don't cry. Let's just hope it goes well.... which I know it will - it CAN'T be worse than that 3 hour business class. No way. I am exhausted though... can't wait until the 11th -- my first day off! YAAAAY.
PS - I can read クリアランス (Clearance). Found that out watching Shin Chan (A CARTOON! MOM AND DAD!!!) See, cartoons are helping me learn!! And that's a BIG Japanese word! Not like, something stupid like 'blue.' Ready to be a bargain hunter!!!! :)

Weird nightmares

I have this haunting reoccurring dream. Every time in the dream, I've flown back to home to visit my family, but I've flown home on a weekend and only have literally a day at the most to see them - but I never realize this in the dream until THEY tell me. Last night's dream was the same, only I had to book the ticket and get on the flight to return to Japan in 12 hours. If I missed the flight then I wouldn't be back in time and I would miss work and I would risk getting fired.
What really bothers me is that EVERY TIME IN THESE DREAMS I'm wanting to see my parents, but I get so caught up in wanting Taco Bell that I literally give up interacting with them (in my dream) to eat Taco Bell, that once I take a bite out of it, I find that it has NO TASTE and I get a bit miffed, like WHY DID I EVEN COME HOME?!
Honestly, I want this to go away because it's annoying, strange and a little sad. No joke - I've had this exact same dream at least 4 different times. Only the amount of time I have to stay at home changes, and the price tag of the flight ticket.
I would also just like to go home right now.

Found something tasty!

Every summer in Japan, Pepsi comes out with a new flavor. A few years ago they had cucumber - I heard it was pretty good. This year, here's the winner:

It's REALLY hard to describe the flavor. I mean, honestly, I've tried a lot of things in my years, but this is weird. It kind of tastes like bubble gum? Maybe kind of like a bubble gum mixed with rum? Or does it taste like vanilla.... peachy? People, I hate to say it but you're just gonna have to try it yourselves -- oh wait. You can't . Sorry about that. Just another reason to get your butt to Japan to visit Melissa!!! :D
My mom and dad get to try it. Lucky them!!!!

Clean apartment!

Man that business class was ROUGH. I really don't enjoy teaching/talking for 3 hours so it was intense. I made it, and surprisingly my second hour flew by (I was reviewing business and friendly introductions) but I always feel like I'm not teaching them the correct things. Like, have I ever worked for a corporation in a company? Nope. Can't really teach you how to introduce other clients because I've never SEEN IT IN PERSON.
I hope I don't have to do this. I hope they find someone else. Honestly, it wouldn't be bad at all, BUT IT'S 3 HOURS. I have 2 classes on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to them. They're ONLY 90 minutes!
In other news, Melissa ordered food at McDonalds all by herself!! She only wanted a cheeseburger, but didn't see it, so she just ordered the "Big Mac Set." There was a very nice lady who stepped in and tried to help because she knew some English. She told me just a minute (because the fries weren't ready) then brought them and 2 packs of ketchup over to me after a few minutes. That was SO SWEET. SUCH NICE MCDONALDS WORKERS! I TOOK A PICTURE OF MY ACCOMPLISHMENT:

Also went out and bought some crazy stuff. A piece of crap vacuum (but I can't complain. It worked and picked up a TON of hair.... thaaaank you!!) and a SUPER bright LED clock... didn't realize it's as bright as it is. But at least I can sit in my living room and never have to guess the time anymore! And finally I bought a toy for Little Lexi.... it's a baby shoe, with a squeaker in it. She'll destroy it in 5 minutes I'm sure, but they just don't make durable, fun toys for big dogs because they're not very common here. Oh and then I bought a bobble head that reacts to sound because it's cute AND I LIKE TOYS.

Which looks brighter to you?!

Boring update :)

There's not much to update about tonight.
But I found a site with info on our impending typhoon!! (It's going to be a tropical storm when it affects Aomori city) You can check it out here.
My adult students think I'm crazy for being so excited for this to hit - and they say that this is a scary storm because it's a slow moving one. They aren't kidding... it's moving at a blistering 6 mph.
In other news, my new business class starts tomorrow and I got advice from my mom and my work buddy in another city, Colin. Lots of good ideas - and I'm sure I'll be doing most of them in my 3 hour class. Colin at least says it's the same as a regular class at school. Guess it's just in a formal setting and WAYYYY longer than usual. Fab.
That's it. There's your update for the day. Pretty informative, I must say.