Yukata party

Yukatas are like light summer kimonos. Less frills and things to put on

Summatime Nails

Pirate Camp Promo Photoshoot

So, for one of our staff meetings we were told to dress "pirate-y" and they took pictures of us. We were instructed make pirate faces

Here's Bret's:


And here's mine:



Mine is waaaaaaaaaaay more piratey

More House Pics

Here's more of the roof. There's fish, a couple of pheonix's and some other animals. Bret and I have always admired Japanese architecture and talked about how amazing it would be to actually live in a house like this. Literally every time we'd go for a jog or walk he'd stop at a neat house and be like, "wow! why can't we live in a place like this!?!" It's pretty incredible that after months and months of talking about it, we get to do it!
This is a mini shrine that is built into a compartment of the living room. It's pretty high up, over the mantle. It's meant to house spirits. They can enter and linger there, so it's like, a polite buddihst and/or shinto thing to have in your house for spirits. Bret will probably correct me on some of this information

These are a few of the interesting items remaining in the house currently. They may be removed before we move in, but we put them down on the "If you don't want it, keep it in the house for us, please" list. Young Japanese people laugh at us for liking Japanese antiques (we bought an old antique samurai helmet replica and a carved wooden bear at a shop a few months back) and they say that "only Japanese grandfathers have things like this in their house" but we like them :)

Sweet old globe. Everything on it is so antiquated. It was literally made before they knew the true shape of continents and countries. It's really interesting.


An old Japanese doll is to the left. The real estate guy showing us around said it was very old and traditional, like something you'd see in a Japanese culture museum. To the right is an odd stuffed bird in a case. I couldn't tell if it was real or fake. Or a real bird that had extra decorations and feathers tacked onto it. Experimental taxidermy, anyone?

This is a shot of the front yard. The rocks are really smooth. I don't know what kind they are, but they feel like silt that was pressurized over the years. They are comfy to sit on.

all around us are farms. the houses in the neighborhood are all spaced pretty far apart, to accommodate for the farmland.

Wow, This is our cheapest renting option in Japan!

It's Bret and I's Anniversary!

Sometime this month is our first date anniversary! Two whole years and many more to come. Love you, Bret!

Update Time

So Bret and I have been pretty busy lately. Lots and lots of classes and driving around.

I sort of hit a wall a few weeks back with my 10 hour days. How am I supposed to be enthusiastic for that long? It's impossible. I think my problem is I'm a perfectionist and I only enjoy my classes with gifted students (because....I'm a terrible person)

However! I have found a few tricks that help me along!

Recently, I've been singing a LOT of songs. Like, 20 each class. They are all in the language books and completely educational, but I never really used them with the CD before. Not only is it a great time waster but the songs really do get stuck in the kid's heads (and mine, as I make my hour long drive home in a car without a radio OR CD player). But aside from the side effect of constantly singing, "Do you want spaghetti?" to myself, I really feel much less high strung after lessons. Song therapy!

Also today I had a three hour class with three little kids. They call it "homestay class" aka 300 dollars a month class. While I understand the concept of bombarding a child with English for 3 hours, it is a lot to ask of a teacher. Three hours with the same kids...ugh. It feels like an eternity.

BUT, today went pretty well. I burned some sesame street onto a dvd, brought the kids over to my place and made them french toast while they watched educational programming. I didn't just let them watch, I would repeat and point things out that were in the show. Anyways, I feel like they had fun and they actually ate my food and asked for seconds! You usually make a snack in these classes but I've heard from other teachers that some things Japanese kids refuse eat, which would make me sad if I made the effort. For example, Christa made rice and beans and stuff for one of her classes and only one or two kids ate it (out of 9). Seriously Japan, why no Mexican food? IT IS DELICIOUS

Another funny thing about having the kids over, is no matter how set up a room is for their entertainment (sesame street, food, books, toys) other parts of the apartment are ALWAYS more interesting. I never thought I would be shooing a child away from the restroom three times because of his undying curiosity of what a toilet looks like. Children are strange.

Oh, one more thing, while I have you here, the phrase "Oh my god" was being used constantly by my students today. I don't know why, but it BUGGED me. All Japanese people know, "bye bye" "see you" and "oh my god." It bothers me that these are the cultural imports of America. Also, saying "oh my god" in place of "wow" seems...unnecessary. (they know "wow" too) Anyways, I gave them a talking to about how it wasn't formal to speak that way and had the Japanese staff reiterate that it wasn't acceptable for classroom use. Why? I don't know. It annoyed me. AND I MAKE THE RULES!


Well, that's all that's going on at the moment. Aside from little things like missing garbage day (you have to keep garbage inside your house until collection day, there are no outside storage receptacles. BUT garbage day is twice a week) things have been pretty calm and easygoing. It's been about ten months in Japan and feels like I've lived here forever. It will be WEIRD to go back "home"...whenever *that* happens...

hehe