A 'How-To comment' post.

This is an entry to help the "old people." If you are  50  49    46  or over, you can blame my aunt for heartlessly dumping you in that category. This excludes the fabulous Jeff Folkens who managed to do this all on his own. Way to go, Jeff!
Alright! First you're gonna wanna click on the comment (underneath my entry) which looks like this... only it'll probably have 0 comments...

Once you clicked on that, you get this screen... the big white screen is to write your happy comment (and your NAME) and then... YOU MUST select this 'comment as' window and there at the very bottom is 'Anonymous.' Do that.

Then there will be a word you have to type, it shows you what it is... it's in case you're a robot, because I don't want robots browsing my blog and commenting however they like. Anyway then you click submit, or okay, or whatever and ding, dong, ding.
Now that I went to all this trouble, DO IT. ... Please :)

IT'S GRRRRRREAT!

ATTENTION! YOU WANNA POST A COMMENT?! GO RIGHT AHEAD, I changed the settings and now ANYONE with a computer and this link can comment away. But be sure to tell me your name or I really won't have a clue who you are, and I honestly don't know who reads this, other than the people my mom and dad tell me (hi Dave and Joyce).
Oh, hey Sue!! I got your students letters... they are HILARIOUS!!!! And SO cute!!!!!! I'd love to write back, but it's summer : / but if you still want me to so you can read it to them next year or whatever, I totally will!!!!!!!
That was my housekeeping... now comment after this. I'm begging you.
There was a baby earthquake that happened in the middle of the night... it was so baby-ish that absolutely NO ONE I've talked to woke up, but you know I did. Rocking in my sleep is just not natural. And I did worry for a few minutes... I'm talking near panic, but it was so light and it didn't last more than a few seconds.
Two things:
A) It is NOT fun knowing that you live on a "ticking time-bomb."
B) I dislike sleeping now because I've been woken up 3 times of the 5 earthquakes I've experienced -- and the Casey Anthony trial happens to go on in my middle of the night which is a severe inconvience.

Mom and Dad made my night tho, and they don't even know it yet! :)

Thank you for a box that Japan customs had to search through... probably jealous of this sweet shirt.

Donuts and Spaghetti!

It's been 2 months now that I've been in Japan and I'm happy to say that just means one day closer to seeing my mom and dad and dog!!! It also took 2 months for me to finally develop the courage to go into the doughnut shop (Mister Donuts... or Mistaa Donuts) because it was 100 yen day and you just can't beat "dollar donuts." It's scary when you know the people don't speak your language and you only have a severely limited amount of words to work with. Anyway, the time came and I walked up to the counter and simply said,
Jyuu pon de ringu kudasai.
(10 um... ringed donuts? please)
Of COURSE there are multiple kinds of pon de ringu and I was on the other side of the donuts I wanted. So it was kind of funny as the lady pulled out one tray and I'd shout "IIE!" or no, but thankfully she pulled the right ones the second time. I was ridiculously proud of myself and how can you not be, with such yummy donuts and a CUUUUTE box!!!!

Oh and okay, this has nothing to do with donuts, but one of my kid students forgot to do his homework and hurriedly tried to finish it in class. We were going over a conversation asking for spaghetti and he obviously was paying attention!!

I laughed SO HARD that I cried and I told him I had to take a picture... and of course the girls in the class had to run over to see what it said and they laughed.... so he tried to fix it and I counted his homework because of the hilarity that you see here :)

Mag. 6.7 quake!

People of America!! Japan has made national news! (for you guys) Yes, this morning I was woken up by some seriously violent shaking... at first I kind of thought I over slept and my mom was shaking me to tell me to get the crap up, but then I realized I live in Japan now and I knew it was an earthquake. It was definitely big and I waited a few seconds for it to stop, but it didn't - it got worse. My overhead light was hitting the ceiling and I got up out of bed (literally, my bed is an air mattress on the floor) and stumbled through my apartment to the front door. I threw that sucker open and just stood in the middle of the frame, clinging to both sides. My apartment building was rocking HARD CORE and the metal walls next to my front door, which hold things like the gas meters and all that, were rattling. Every time I thought it would stop, it wouldn't and you could hear it just as much as you could feel it. It was SO LOUD it was unbelievable.
I ran past my clock at 6:54 am - and that earthquake started at 6:51. Around 6:56 it finally stopped and holy cow I have never been so afraid in my life. Ran to my laptop and called my house. Thankfully my dad looked it up online right away... it was a magnitude 6.7. Stupid me finally remembered I had access to Japanese news and turned on NHK - which had a tsunami advisory issued for the east coast (and they later cancelled it, YAYYY!!!) I shook for 20 minutes solid after that earthquake... I guess from fear, or adrenaline... on the plus side: MY PANTS STAYED DRY!!! ^__^ ;   <-- fun Japanese smiley face

The fact that this woke me up, and the fact that it was shaking so hard that I couldn't stand up straight told me I had a reason to actually be afraid this time (instead of the others, which now are like nothing). The students and my friends were really nice about it and said it was definitely a bigger one. Let's just hope they aren't saying that out of pity for the stupid girl who fought the urge to run outside into the streets - SCREAMING.
Ah, I'm telling you guys, it is NEVER boring here!

The worst stuff on earth is...

I'm sorry I'm not able to snap pictures of myself while trying new foods here in Japan. The "mom-aged" ladies of my first class today brought me natto, and it is without doubt the most horrid thing I have ever eaten. First of all, it is exactly like snot from your nose. It tastes like that, it's sticky like that and if you happen to have objects the size of soy beans in your snot, then well you pretty much have natto in your nose. And oh, did these ladies LOVE IT! 4 of them had their cell phones out snapping pictures of one of the ladies stirring it up for me (because I know I wouldn't have eaten it if I had to stir it with soy sauce) and of course my horrific reaction... they pretty much yelled at me to drink my water and the second I swallowed, it came right back up. But then it went down again and ... dear Neptune.
I do honestly wish I had a camera crew with me, because it was a COMPLETE Karl Pilkington moment and it's all I could think about. Get this guy to Aomori. This isn't even the worst Japanese food around.... apparently there is something so foul that you can't cook it in your house or people get very angry because it stinks to high heaven. Before I ever set eyes on natto, I asked one of the ladies what it smelled like.
Her response:
A foot.
I concur with her findings. And yet they LOVE THE STUFF! Honestly, I'd much rather eat a cricket (you know, the BUG) than this crap again - I am dead serious. And it took hours for the urge to puke to go away. They asked me if there was any foods that stink, yet we eat it in America. Only thing I could think of was eggs. YEP. PASS ME THE CHEEZ-ITS, I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!!

It's bay time!

Today was brutally hot. And I only say that because I don't have air conditioning and houses here just aren't insulated. So according to my digital clock/thermometer it was 85.5 degrees at one point. Now it's a cool 80.6. I went out to buy 4 tiny containers of ice cream (you know our awesome gallon sized ice creams? Nope, haven't seen anything close to that size yet) and then curiosity got into my head and I went searching for the bay. I found it! And it's not far from my place!!
The railing protecting you from the bay's water.

I think that triangle is a light house? Maybe??

Big boat of some kind in the harbor.

ASPAM building! Triangles are big around here.

Again with the triangle lighthouse... but this time you can see out into the bay.

No idea what was going on over there, fire maybe?

We're just relaxing! It's pretty quiet minus the construction work going on behind the birds.

One of the many piers and the water.

I remember why I don't like living by water... it smells. It smells all salty and it makes me wanna throw up. But I do what I can so you people don't stay bored!

A typical 'church' festival in Japan

If this is "church" festival season in Japan, it'll never end. There's so many shrines and temples and luckily we found a festival they were throwing!! LET'S GO!!
This is my fortune! I am a little bit lucky. So was Yomo and his mom, Ayako. Very interesting fortune.

Hahaha little Yomo hiding behind his fortune... love this kid!!

After reading your fortune, you tie it to a rope under a tree. Yep, guess who tore hers trying to tie it in a knot? -- WELL it shouldn't have been made of PAPER!

Festival time! It's a Pikachu sucker!! And it was only 400 yen!! (that's ridiculously expensive for a sucker and I didn't know how much it was until after I picked it up and had my heart set on it)

This is where you wash your hands (and occasionally your mouth) at the shrine. Ew. But I am a fan of that dragon.

WHAT IS THIS?! Our best guess was that it was a dog... anyway, here's a side shot of my ice cream.

 

This just screams Japan doesn't it? Well, it better because it certainly does to me.

I'm just thrilled to have paid 5 yen to ring a giant bell and make a mockery of myself.

Ayako's gonna be so mad that I posted this on my blog! ... if she knew I had one!

Walk-way to the temple. Love these things!!!!!

Love them so much I wanted a picture with one! (And notice Yomo on the bottom left)

Offering... place? That's a basket of vegetables behind me people. Much more practical offering than money, if you ask me. Churches back home could take a few notes!

They set off fireworks to signal the start of the celebration. I freaked out and Ayako's husband got that in a picture.

The family shot my mom has been DYING for... here you go Mom... and they know all about why I had to take it.

This is a nice area in a crowded, gray city.

LITTLE HARU!! He can slurp noodles better than me and he's 2!!!

His chopstick skillz are maddd too, yo :)

And Yomo handles chopsticks better than me. Yep, I was so fascinated that I had to take pictures.  

It was fun. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!! PLEASE SAY A PRAYER FOR HIM... HIS APPENDIX ISN'T DOING SO WELL!!!!!!! :'-(