Sad.

I wanna go home.

Welcome Party!!!!

Oh Japan and its parties. I'm sorry I didn't update about the par-tay sooner, I've just been lazy :/

HERE WE GO! This is my welcome party! My camera DIED, so all of these pictures were taken with my iphone...
Me and my buddy Yutaka:

ME AND ASUKA!!!!!!

I love this. Ayako with her face in her drink, Shigeru and Edo :)

HAHAHHA. This is the best! Nobu couldn't come to my party - he was taking an English test in Tokyo so I promised him I'd take a picture holding this sign. And Asuka is making her 'squishy American face' which is priceless!

Bunches of people in this... eating lots of food.

Tatsuya has a headache?

Aww Yutaka's way in the back, then Yoshio, Nozomi and ... I don't know.

Yutaka, Tatsuya and Yoshihito. We made a pit stop at this little hole in the wall bar, where such a cute old man works. He tried to talk to me in English.

Putting our names in for KARAOKE.

Edo and Nozomi look very happy while waiting.

Edo with the special drink list.

SHIN CHAN HELPS US SING AT KARAOKE!!!!!!!

So that's a taste of how the Japanese party. It was really fun and karaoke is a BLAST! Each group gets its own private room and it has cool lighting plus an air conditioner because it gets REALLY hot when you're belting out Japanese/English tunes. Funny part of the night: being kind of tall there, I totally didn't see a tiny bench in front of me while I was walking to karaoke and walked smack into it. Now I have a really cool softball-sized bruise on my left shin! Ah, I look so tough.

Watashi wa yoppara...ta?

Japan really knows how to party it up! More on this development later.....

Hirosaki trip (the un-seen photos!)

By request from my mom, some more pictures of the castle... haha.

 Very pretty, around the entrance to the park.

The castle and the cherry blossoms.

Oh boy. Me (not a friend... just a random guy) and the flowers.

 Close up of the castle. COOOOOL!!

 Here you go Mom, a face to the name... it's Miwa!!! :)

Along the lake, on a row boat ride!

That's not us, but it was a very pretty ride (with great mountains!)

Ugh, I look awful. Notice the wind? IT NEVER STOPS HERE.

Hungry?! Ew, no.

Aren't I cute? Not for eating, for a pet. I WANT IT!

Traditional Japanese restaurant in Hirosaki city. You can't wear shoes! So always wear socks when you're in Japan.

Traveling first class (literally, it was the first class cabin. That seat folded out into a BED!)

So there you go people! Next update will probably be in 2 days because a party in Japan lasts until the sun comes up... they REALLY know how to party. And there will be loads of pictures uploaded then! :)

Wow I HATE when sad songs come on my iTunes!

There is a happy little neighborhood store called Family Mart that's about 2 minutes from my work building. Once I was recognized by the head guy who runs the store the second time I walked in (and he told me he knows some English, which practically made me cry tears of joy), I decided to go to Family Mart every work day. Now all of the staff know who I am and they are so sweet and nice whenever I come in. I love the girls who work there... one of them told me I had beautiful eyes. Money is tight until June 10th, and now I have to start thinking of a budget, which may knock Family Mart off the map. I mean, they have pretty good broken English skills, but it may be impossible for me to explain that seeing them brightens my day and that I'm not buying anything, I just wanted to walk in and smile for a few minutes.
I ended up wasting 120 yen on a hash-brown looking thing (I thought it would be BEEF) and it turned into fried curry. Le sigh. One day this will be funny... it will all be funny one day. Weird, if I were back at home right now, I'd be unemployed since the school year is over. That's certainly not funny. 11 months seems like a long time to see my mom and dad. And dog.
But I have to put in one positive thing - ever heard of that video game, Pokemon? Yeah, that stupid thing first got me interested in Japan over 10 years ago and tonight the TV show was on... and I watched it and wondered what that little 12 year old girl would think of herself now? She'd smack her older self and say "be HAPPY you're away from your parents! go drink some diet pop... and OH MY GOSH - GO BUY POKEMON CARDS."
Mmkay, those cards won't ever happen but I think the happiness might.  :)

Booorrrring.

There is absolutely nothing new to report guys... I'm sorry. Actually, there's probably lots I could write on, but to me it's not new/interesting. Let me rack my brain for a moment. Well, I managed to find a Japanese soccer game in advance and taped it! It's hard when you push 'guide' to see what's on TV and all you see are psychotic symbols everywhere. So that was somewhat of a victory. And American baseball is on every morning! They typically only show American League teams (or teams that have Japanese players) so I have never seen the Reds. Still, it's nice to watch our teams in English.
I miss English TV. So I watch it every chance I get -- which means like yesterday, I watched an episode of the PowerPuff Girls JUST because it's in English. Oh, dear.
Okay, one more piece of news. My head boss came to visit last week and today and she said I'm a really good teacher TWICE. She didn't even say it to me today, but told someone in the office. So at least I feel somewhat confident that what I'm doing is on the right track! Yay Melissa, you're so awesome :P

a DIY kind of girl!

It's really tough trying to survive on your own.... actually, the only thing that's been super tough on me is the assembly of furniture. You know, before I left, my dad did everything for me. Or my mom, but she isn't a do-it-yourself type of person. Since coming here, I've assembled 2 dressers all by myself. I finished the first (littler one) about a week ago and yesterday I decided to tackle the big one. It doesn't help that the directions are all in Japanese and that I'm a wimpy looking girl. Let's do this.
Lots of yelling came with this one. A lot of banging (the frame just would NOT stay up, and I often thought during this time that I desperately needed someone else's help). I actually punched the wall in sheer anger at one point... but it didn't break and I didn't break my hand. Anger management? Eh probably won't find it here!
But once I took a small break, calmly looked at it and tried again, it worked. Haaa that figures! And after a long and grueling day, it was finished.

Why, hello GIANT pain in my back/arms/legs. See the upper right drawer? It doesn't close fully! I really don't CARE, but I think it's possibly because the two drawers need to be switched... like it's on the wrong side. But I also don't want to waste more energy to find out I was WRONG. At least the little one is put together perfectly... and this drawer just barely sticks out - so I'm satisfied.
Just another tough day of roughin' it in adult country.