On Sunday night, Kerry and two Japanese co-workers, Keiko and Kumiko, came over. It was
fun as always to chill out outside of work! As a bonus, Keiko and Kumiko brought me some
cake and chuu-hai (an alcoholic drink), LOL! Kerry and I taught them how to play Hearts, which
I hadn`t played for ages. Then Kerry and I demonstrated how to play checkers, and I was a
little miffed by the fact that Kerry actually beat me...don`t know how that happened! LOL
I added a picture to the second picture page.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Went skiing today with Maki, Tenko, and two of Tenko's friends, one of which turned out
to be the same age as Shozo, 64, but he looked 40 and tore up the slopes like nobody's
business. Anyway, I had to get up at 4:10 - ugh - and we hit the road a little after 5:00.
Takeshi (the 64-year-old) drove, and we went to a place in Hiroshima Prefecture called
Nekoyama Snow Resort. (Nekoyama means "cat mountain," by the way!) It took about 2.5-3
hours to get there. There were about 200 people there dressed in neon pink outfits
taking lessons all day, but they were pretty much off to one side, and the rest of the slopes
had enough people to make it interesting, but it wasn't crowded. The weather was perfect -
probably around 32 degrees and cloudy, which meant I was never blinded by the sun reflecting
off the snow.
The outfit Shozo lent me was hideous, as you'll see in the pictures, LOL, but hey, that outfit
and the borrowed skis saved me about $30 in rental fees. The lift pass was only 3500 yen,
about $28, which was so cheap!!! Boot rental was about $12. All in all, a day of skiing,
including lunch and then dinner on the way home, cost me about $55 - not bad, eh???
I skiied absolutely horribly the first 3 runs (there ain't no bunny hill on a mountain!), then improved
the rest of the day, although I still sucked. Fell about 8 times, but it didn't hurt. It was really
funny looking up or down at the slopes, because 90% of the people were on snowboards and
about 70% of those people didn't know what the hell they were doing, so at any one point in
time, at least half the people on the slope were on their asses, LOL!
It was a fun day, although it got frustrating towards the end 'cause none of them spoke English
(well, Tenko spoke just a few words), and most of the time I didn't know what the hell they were
talking about. Oh, well....
Monday, February 17, 2003
It still surprises me sometimes how nice people here are. For example, on Friday, I took
a day trip to Onomichi (more on that later), and one guy saw me looking at a map and
spent almost 10 minutes with me trying to locate a particular restaurant. Later in the
day, I stopped in at a confectionary shop, and the owner gave me me tea and cookies
while I was looking around! (He was also very happy that I spoke some Japanese and spent
several minutes talking with me!) Then this morning, the back tire on my bike went completely
flat, so I brought it in to the Cycle Center (I had one of my brakes fixed there last week, so
the guy knew me). Not only is the guy gonna fix it for free (I think!), but he gave me another
bike to use for the day! I was so surprised....
So anyway, Kurashiki is the furthest west I`ve been in Japan, so I decided to venture out
last Friday and take a day trip to Onomichi, a city about 45 miles west of here. I took the local
train; it cost only about $9 and took exactly one hour. In Onomichi you can take a ropeway car
from the bottom to the top of a mountain, and there is some fantastic scenery from the
top! I`ll post or send pictures later. There`s also a temple and a museum on the mountain; I
went to the temple but not to the museum. Before I took the ropeway, I walked around
downtown for a while and ate at a ramen shop for lunch, since Onomichi is apparently famous
for its ramen. I bought some cookies to bring to school on Saturday, and everyone loved them!
On Wednesday I`m going skiing with Maki, Tenko, and one of their friends - yay! Sounds like
we`re driving to a place in Hiroshima prefecture. Shozo is even lending me his daughter`s ski
outfit and skis so I don`t have to rent them! (He offered me her ski boots, too, but they were
too small.) Should be a fun day! The weather is supposed to be good.
Well, time to go to work. Should be a very easy day today.
Love,
Kelly
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Let`s see, what did I do yesterday. I had my Japanese lesson in the morning, as
usual. The grammar is getting harder now and it is sometimes a struggle to
understand the reading sections of the textbook, but it will come...I need to
make flashcards to help me remember the vocab and the kanji. Soon after my
lesson, I made my weekly trip to the mall :) and got a great pair of black (fake)
leather boots for only 1000\! I was so happy. LOL The chocolate counters at
all the major stores are so crowded right now `cause of Valentine`s Day tomorrow!
Didn`t really do much the rest of the day except some housecleaning and computer
work. I did get a bunch of pictures developed, both regular and digital, and they`re so
cute! I love the digital camera so much better than the regular, `cause 1)I can
develop only the pictures I want, 2)it`s cheaper to develop the pics, and 3) the
pictures are just as clear as regular film. Also, I can get larger size prints with the
digital camera, at least at the place I`ve been going. Everyone I show my camera
to now wants one, too!
Today I met some friends and went to the mall (again!) to take some purikura
(those cool little photo booths where the machine takes your picture and you
can choose different backtgrounds and write on them and stuff). Then we went
to MOS Burger for lunch. Don`t think we have those in Minnesota, but it`s not
too different from McDonalds; a little more expensive, though. I had just gone
there on Tuesday with Kerry and Naoko, but Sarah`s daughter Brooklyn
loves the place, so we went there. Her family (her husband and baby
daughter Brianne also were with) paid, which was very generous considering
the bill for 6 of us was about $50!
Now I`m at an Internet place that two of my friends recommended, and it`s so
great, `cause it`s free!!! I think you can use it as long as you want, too. It`s only
about a 10-minute bike ride from my apartment, if that, so I`ll definitely be
coming here from now on!!
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Today is a national holiday in Japan (National Foundation Day), so
I don't have to work and therefore have a 4-day weekend. Yay! This
afternoon, I'm going skating and bowling with Kerry and Naoko. It's
the first day Kerry and I have had off together, if you don't count
New Year's break, when we were both on vacation in different parts of
Japan.
My birthday was last Friday, so I am now 24 and officially in my mid-
twenties. I went skating in the morning and to the mall in the
afternoon. Bought a new skirt for work, since I'm getting tired of
wearing pant suits all the time. Around 5:00 I met my friends Shozo,
Maki, and Tenko, and we went to a yakitori restaurant for dinner and
then bowling! It was my first time bowling in Japan, and it was really
fun, even if our fingers turned black from dirty balls or something,
LOL. I sucked the first game and got 106, but my 2nd and 3rd game were
better, 131 and 153. I usually score around 130, so I was happy with that
last game (4 strikes!).
Thanks to all my friends and family who called or emailed me that day.
I appreciate it and was happy to hear from you all!
I put up some more pictures in the shashin section. I wish I
could put up some pics of my students, 'cause they've loved having their
picture taken and they're so cute! But I won't post without the parents'
permission. What I put up are some more pics of my apartment, the school,
and some friends.
Mata ne!
Kelly
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003
I often think it's strange that in the US, I was on the Internet about
2-4 hours every day and that here in Japan I don't even have
internet at home, so I'm only online 2-4 hours a week! I thought
I would go crazy not having 24-hour access, but I really haven't
missed it too much, 'cause I actually have a social life here! :-)
Today, I saw 8 different friends, LOL! I had my Japanese lesson
this morning, so I saw my teacher and Tuuli, who always has a lesson
at the same time. Then I met one of my Japanese friends to shop for
a digital camera (more on that in a sec...). Later in the afternoon,
I met up with two other friends and went with them to the home of a
New Zealand woman (about my age), who I hadn't met before but who was
really nice. After that, one of my co-workers (who I see outside of
work every week) came over for a couple hours. Finally, I went down
to Christine's apartment to pick up some books she was giving away
and just talk for a little bit. Now it is almost midnight and I am
tired!!!
So I got a digital camera today, yay!! It's really nice - it has a
normal photo setting, a close-up setting, and a timer setting, and
it can take video clips of up to 1 minute! It's lightweight, has a
decent zoom, and takes really clear pictures. It cost about 36,000
yen, including tax, so I guess that's about $310 or so. I love it!
I've already installed on my laptop the program needed to view the
pictures and save them, so there should be photos on this site
shortly! Only problem is, the batteries in the camera appear to
have gone dead, even though I just put them in today...I will have
to go to a Fuji shop tomorrow and either get new batteries or have
them tell me what's wrong.
My birthday is actually Friday, but I almost felt like today was. For
one thing, I got the camera, which I consider to be a present to
myself. I got two other presents, too. The friend/co-worker who went
camera shopping with me gave me a yummy birthday cake, and the other
friend gave me some bath stuff and a Swarovski crystal cat!!
Ureshikatta - I was very happy!