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Thursday, July 31
Wow, I was quite the attraction at the rink today, LOL! Kaori came with me, and despite the
fact that there were about 20 girls and a few boys on the ice doing doing double and TRIPLE
jumps and I was just either standing there with Kaori or doing single jumps, many eyes were on
me. At one point when the two of us were sitting down for a break, we had about 5 kids and 3
adults talking to us. (Where are you from? What's your name? How old are you? Can you do double
jumps? Have you competed? LOL) BUT, the cool thing was, a guy who spoke very good English started
talking to me and introduced me to his coach, and I am going to have a lesson with her tomorrow!
I was so surprised, and I'm so happy! She looks not too much older than me, and apparently,
she was a national level competitor and can do triples and everything! So I will probably
embarrass myself tomorrow with my measly single lutzes and half-hearted double salchows, but
I am looking forward to it anyway! I haven't had a lesson in almost 10 months! She doesn't speak
much English, so hopefully we can understand each other. Hiroshi, the guy who introduced us, won't
be there tomorrow but will come next week, so he offered to help translate if necessary.
So anyway, it was quite the experience today, and it was fun showing Kaori some stuff, too.
Yesterday was also fun - my Japanese teacher brought all the necessary supplies for calligraphy!
We spent almost 2 hours practicing writing yuujou (friendship), first on newspaper, then
on plain white paper, then on fancy calligraphy paper. It was a little harder than I thought, but
it was very fun and turned out pretty well! I think I'll frame the best one. My teacher lent
me all his supplies, so I can try writing some other things at home. I'm trying to think of
something good to write!
Monday, July 28
There was a big festival in Kurashiki on Saturday. I guess there will be festivals each
of the next 2 Saturdays, too. Sara and I went after work and missed most of the excitement
'cause it ended before 9:30 and we didn't get there until 8:45 or so. But there were so many
people there - I often forget that Kurashiki has an equal or bigger population than
Minneapolis. The main street leading up to the train station was (still is) lined with paper
lanterns and on Saturday was also lined with food stalls and vendors. It was quite a festive
atmosphere and most girls and women were dressed in yukata, which are like lightweight
kimonos and are very pretty. We ran into Sayo and she looked beautiful. A few pictures are
here.
Kelly and Sara at karaoke, July 20
Self-portrait with Stitch, July 25
Friday, July 25
Still a little sore from skating on Wednesday and exercising yesterday, so I didn't go
skating today. But I plan to go twice next week, and one of the JTs has said she'll come
with, so yay!
Let's see, what did I do yesterday...was a pretty nice day, so I went to the Bikan area, sat
on a bench by the canal, and read for a while. Took a mini bike ride before returning to the
apartment and wasting away a few hours on the Internet. :) Today, I watched the movie "Maid
in Manhattan," which a friend had lent me. It was cute. Was planning on also watching "Die
Another Day" tonight, but here I am wasting time on the Internet again, LOL...Went to the
mall late in the afternoon and hardly spent any money! Was proud of myself. :) Went to Starbucks
and had an iced mocha while I read some more of my book.
Wednesday, July 23
Been in Japan 8 months as of today!
Let's see...on Saturday, my friend Yukari came over and met Sara for the first time. We
ordered pizza, looked at pictures, and played Hearts. We had two different pizzas - teriyaki
chicken pizza and pizza with fish/mayonnaise balls on it - not exactly what you'd find in the
US, but good nevertheless! We further ruined our diet with the cheesecake Yukari brought over. :)
On Sunday, 6 of us from work went to karaoke. Fun as usual! I'm getting faster at reading
the Japanese songs on the screen. Too bad my singing voice isn't improving just as much.
Monday was Marine (as in the ocean) Day here in Japan; the school was closed and I had an
extra day off! In the late morning/early afternoon, I went on a picnic with Sara, Matthew,
and Matthew's wife. It turned out to be beautiful weather and we had a good time. After that, Sara
and I went to the station for some shopping, then rode our bikes around town and stopped at
Kazue's house to say hi. Turns out she was sleeping, but we ended up talking to her mom for
a while. I'd met her before, but Sara hadn't. She took us around the side of the house to
show us their 2 dogs and also took us to the flower shop next door to talk to the lady there.
Before we left, she gave us peaches and pumped up our bike tires, LOL! So nice!
The skating rink has now re-opened for the summer, so I went skating today for the first time
in 2.5 months! I haven't had that long of a skateless period since I started skating 8 years
ago! Needless to say, it wasn't a great practice and my skates made my ankles hurt and even
bleed a little, but I was still so happy to be on the ice again! I will go again on Friday.
We have two new trainees at work now, so keep your fingers crossed that they like it and
that they pass!
Friday, July 18
Lazy day today. Slept in and am just relaxing, doing Internet stuff, studying Japanese, etc.
Yesterday I went to the mall with a new Japanese friend and bought a cute little hat. Hats
are in here! The sun is often bright so they are good sun-blockers as well as being stylish
(that wasn't a grammatically correct English sentence, was it? LOL). Last night I watched
the World Synchronized Swimming Championships on TV. I don't know how they go under water
upside down and spin around and twirl and stuff. Amazing...(although still not as amazing to
me as gymnastics).
Me, Sara, and Tuuli at karaoke on Sunday. I had been riding my
bike in the rain so my hair looks like shit, I know! LOL
Wednesday, July 16
Last weekend was busy as usual. I had told myself that I would go home and relax Saturday night,
since I'd gone out the past two Saturdays, but two trainers from Honbu that I liked were having
a farewell party (they left Japan on Monday), so I went. Then on Sunday night, I went to karaoke
with Sara, Tuuli, and two co-workers. Very fun! Although like always, I sounded like crap next to
Sara...LOL
Let's see...it was Sara's birthday yesterday, so I bought a birthday card and had everyone at
work sign it. I also got her a stuffed animal (a seal in a snail costume!) and a book on cats.
It's in Japanese, so hopefully it will motivate her to study. :-)
Today I went to the beach! A co-worker picked me up at Shin-Kurashiki station and drove us there.
Hadn't been swimming (or to a real beach) in so long! The weather was beautiful and it was very
relaxing - we were there for over 4 hours. There was a long row of covered beach "houses"; for
1500 yen (per group), you got some tatami-like matting and a little table and got to sit in the
shade. There was food there but we brought our own. It was so nice to just sit, eat, talk, swim...
I had her take a couple pictures of me; I tried to take one of her but she laughed and refused.
Since Sara didn't get to go today (had to work), she and I might actually go on Monday, since I
have that day off (National holiday).
Me at Sami Beach.
One view of Sami Beach.
Wednesday, July 9
Hot and humid as hell today. The Japanese call it "mushi atsui." Took a shower this morning
and was wet for about 20 minutes 'cause the humidity wouldn't allow any water to evaporate
off my body. I'm assuming this is what I can look forward to for the next two months....
Fortunately, my air conditioner works far better than my heater did.
This week is parent observation week at school. As you can probably guess by the name, each
student's parent(s) can come into the room and watch the lesson. I'm confident enough in my
teaching that I haven't really been nervous, and all but one class so far have gone well or
very well. It gets crowded in the rooms, though, with so many people, so I'll be glad next
week when the parents are gone again.
Managed to spill soy sauce all over my carpet the other day. Fortunately for me, it turns out
that the glass/tabletop spray cleaner I have just so happens to remove soy sauce from carpet,
too...LOL
Wishes written on paper and hung on trees for the "Tanabata" festival on July 7.
Tuesday, July 8
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Thursday, July 3
Spent almost the whole day at the mall yesterday. Had my Japanese lesson in the morning,
then met a co-worker at the mall. We saw the movie "Matrix: Reloaded." It kept my interest
and was all right, but the first one was better, I thought. There's gonna be a third one,
so we'll see how that one is. After the movie, we went shopping, since for most of this month,
90% of the stores are having big bargain sales. I bought a couple new casual shirts and a
work-out shirt. Went home after shopping only to go back to the gym at the mall a couple hours
later. Was on the treadmill for 28 minutes, not bad. Finally, Sara came over and we watched an
episode of "American Idol" and "Friends" (thanks Mom and Dad!). Today was pretty boring - slept
'til noon, ran a couple errands, and wrote about 20 student progress reports.