sunday in kasukabe.

こんばんわ！！

oh my stars, it has been an entire week since i last updated. i`m horrible at this blogging thing. sorry. :(

so, let me tell you about sunday and what happened sunday! because that sounds like a good idea.

if you read my recent post about trying to call the tokyo mission office, you probably have an idea of how difficult it was to find what ward i was supposed to attend. so i went on lds.org to the "find a meetinghouse" feature, and that gave me some trouble too. i found what ward i was supposed to attend, but i had absolutely no idea of how to get there. googlemaps refused to recognize my address, so it wouldn`t give me directions. poopheads. so i had to zoom into the map really close and find the train station that was closest to the meeting house. from there, i tried to find a route that would get me to the chapel...it mostly involved hoping that i would come across certain landmarks, like a 7-eleven and a ministop on the same street. so i wrote down some possible directions and prayed that i would find it.

well, i seemed to have gotten off at the right station.

so i began to wander around according to my makeshift directions. i walked for about half an hour before ending up right back at the train station. hooray for going in circles. so i abandoned my directions after that and just started looking for a 7-eleven.

after wandering up and down the narrow streets, i finally found the 7-eleven.

i have never ever been so happy to see that orange and green sign.

so i headed toward the 7-eleven, and that is when i saw the steeple! i wasn`t expecting to find an actual church. my experience of trying to find the church in tokyo made me wary of that. but luckily, this one actually looked like a church! such a delight.

so i went into the building, and went up some stairs to where a woman was corralling her children and a man was standing, appearing as though he was waiting to go into the door at the end of the hall. i was about twenty minutes late by this time, so i figured he was waiting for the sacrament to end.

when the adults saw me, they both got these huge smiles on their faces and started whispering to me in japanese. i got really flustered and said, 「日本語が下手です!」　which translates to, "my japanese is poor!" (one of the few phrases i know by heart. haha) and, so sweet, they started to talk to me in broken english. "what is your name? where are you from? where do you live?", et cetera. very, very friendly. which made me just so happy because it can`t have been easy for them to approach the big, scary american and try out their rusty english. i am so so grateful for the people that actually try to come and talk to me. i hope they receive lots and lots of blessings.

after talking to me for a few minutes, they started motioning at the door, nodding their heads as if to say, "go on inside! the water`s great!" so i peaked in the door, and they were very apparently in the middle of a prayer. so i waited a few minutes and tried again. i found an empty seat near the front of the chapel and made a run for it. i sat down next to a young girl, who looked quite bewildered at my appearance. i motioned to the chair and myself, saying "okay?", trying to make sure it was okay that i sat down. and she nodded, so i figured i was good! it looked like i really freaked her out though. haha. whoops.

so, despite my lateness, i apparently made it in time for sacrament! they were just about to sing the sacrament hymn. i was just about to reach for a hymn book when a little voice in my ear said, "do you speak japanese?" not seeing the speaker, and figuring she was japanese, i whispered, 「ちょっと｣ back to her, meaning, "a little!" then the voice said, "follow me." so i turned around to find...an american!! yessss.

so i followed this sweet lady back to a chair in front of her. after the sacrament, she began translating the talks in my ear. apparently i had shown up to this ward in time for ward conference! that was a really nice thing for me, as i was able to partake of the sacrament because of it! yay! anyway, the bishop spoke, and then so did the stake president, who turned out to be an american as well. i love americans. haha.

so after receiving a condensed version of the talks and singing out of the japanese hymn book -- which is delightfully much easier than i thought it would be, because it was all in hiragana, which i busted my butt to learn before arriving in japan (studying really does pay off!!) -- the meeting was adjourned and i was able to get to know the people around me. again, they were so friendly and nice. if they weren`t able to talk to me, they smiled and waved to me, letting me know they were there. the sweet lady who translated for me is named elyse, and she is the relief society president! perfect! so i thanked her profusely for translating for me, and stood around for a few moments while people milled around in the chapel.

elyse then turned to me and asked,

"do you speak spanish?"

now, when people here ask me that question, i tell them i do. they all seem fascinated by it and ask me to speak in spanish for them. so i end up bearing my testimony and telling them about the church in spanish, haha! i do that because that`s really all i can remember in spanish. plus, how often do you find a person that speaks spanish in japan?? it`s hard enough to find people that speak english! so they are completely unaware that i am preaching to them. haha, it`s the best.

anyway, when she asked me that, i told her "yes" with a sheepish smile, expecting to be asked to show off again.

i said yes, and she lit up.

"perfect!!" she said,

"you can translate for monica!!"

you know that feeling you get when you`re on a roller coaster and you`re going down that first huge hill and your stomach seems to jump up into your throat? i usually love that feeling, but whenever i get it when i`m not on a roller coaster, i get really really worried.

and i got that same feeling when she said that to me.

i tried to protest while she led me over to monica, but to no avail. she introduced me to sweet monica, telling her i speak spanish. monica lit up and began talking to me in spanish. and, by some wonderful miracle! i was able to understand her.

we talked for a few minutes, and i found out she is from chile and has been a member her whole life. i also found out another wonderful thing about monica: she speaks spanish, japanese, and english. spanish is her native language, and she speaks a little japanese and english. well, her english is infinitely better than my japanese is, so i was extremely relieved.

she led me upstairs to the bishop`s office, to where the ysa sunday school class was being held. again, they were so friendly to me. smiling, and asking my name. in that class, i found a young woman named tomoko, who went to byu, so was fluent in english. also, i found a young man who served his mission in roseville, california, who happened to know my dear friend shawn howell!! tiny, tiny world. he was also fluent in english and let me borrow his english scriptures. oh, the tender mercies of the Lord!! i felt them time and time again that day.

tomoko was sweet enough to sit by me and translate for me, and monica sat on my other side. and thus commenced a lesson taught by the bishop. they seem like a great group. i am very, very excited to get to know them all.

so, i was trying to understand as much japanese as i could...and i understood a couple things! mostly numbers, haha. and there were times that if monica couldn`t understand them, they turned to tomoko, who translated for me, and i was expected to translate for monica. so my brain was trying to process three different languages. i had the biggest headache by the end of that lesson!! i was able to translate for monica sometimes, but most of the time, she understood tomoko`s english, so my spanish wasn`t necessary. and i loved those moments. but the moments that i was able to translate for monica made me extremely grateful for senorita taylor and that special day where she taught us religious spanish. best day ever.

at the end of the lesson, tomoko and this other girl, yukimi, both gave me their phone numbers and i gave them mine. i thought it was so sweet that yukimi did the phone number exchange as well, since her english is limited and my japanese is even more limited. so, even though we may not be able to communicate easily, she still offered me that extra support. and i am so, so, SO grateful.

i wandered back down to the chapel, where the priesthood and relief society meetings were joined, since it was ward conference. i sat with elyse and monica. for the opening song, elyse handed me an english hymnbook. i thought that was so thoughtful and nice.

during the lesson, they showed a video in english with japanese subtitles. i think they were going to do it the other way around at first, but for some reason, they switched it at the last second. i don`t know what made them switch, but i am extremely grateful for whatever reason that was.

after that, we divided into groups and had group discussions about the video. it was when we were dividing into groups that a saw a cute cute lady in a kimono. it made me very very happy.

when the lesson was over, i wanted to hang around for a bit to see if i could get to know more people. luckily for me, they had a sort of munch and mingle thing after the block, with all the fixings to make your own sandwich. it was amazing; i sat in the chapel and watched them transform it into a picnic area. i`m sure that`s what they always have to do, since there isn`t much room for a cultural hall in the building. plus the chapel is made up of folded chairs anyway, so it was quite easy. they had this big curtain draped in front of the stand and podium, which i guess was supposed to make it feel less like we were in a chapel and more like we were in a cultural hall.

it was a special occasion, kind of to celebrate that the stake presidency made a visit, so it sounds like it isn`t something they do every sunday (dangit). while eating, i chatted more with monica. she is a queen sweetheart; she gave me her pocket translator to borrow while i`m here. "i don`t use it. it`s more for tourists!" she said. i am so so so grateful. apparently she`s lived here in japan for over ten years! crazy business.

in mingling around, i was able to meet bishop abe`s wife, who is one of the sweetest ladies ever. her english is very, very good. apparently she served a mission in nagoya, where she was able to pick it up from the american missionaries. she was also speaking spanish to monica! what a super hero. she is super duper animated and i loved talking to her. she also wanted my phone number; so she got out her hot pink cell phone with pretty disneyland charms on it. i tell you, no one is exempt from the cell phone charm rule in japan. EVERYONE has at least one, if not twenty.

so i had a lovely conversation with sweet sister abe. i also met a missionary couple, and the sister asked for my phone number and address. so so so sweet, as it was another demonstration of "i speak very, very little english and you speak very, very little japanese. so we can`t really communicate, but i want you to know that i`m here to support you if you need it." i just got warm fuzzies remembering that.

where were the elders, you may ask? well, they were there. however, they made a point to not talk to me, let alone make eye contact with me! one of them is japanese, so it`s understandable. the other looked american. i was a little annoyed by that. seriously, if he caught my eye, he looked away super fast. i concluded that he is a punk. i`ll be waiting to see if he proves me wrong.

i walked to the train station with monica. on our way out of the building, i met a young woman who told me she is korean. so i told her the only korean phrase that i know, which translates to "i`m a fool!" she seemed to think that was pretty funny. seriously. she was laughing hysterically. i hope we can be friends. haha.

i also ran into the man i met when i first came into the building. he asked me if i knew any japanese, so i told him the only phrase i can say fluently: ｢田中さんは面白い本を買いました。｣　　he acted like he was really impressed and complimented my pronunciation. i love my ward. (i also love that i am typing on a japanese computer, so it looks like i`m awesome and know kanji when i really don`t.)

so i walked to the train station with monica, thus showing me a much more effective way to find the church. and i came home and napped.

my sunday ruled, as you can obviously see. i love the church.

skool.

so, let me tell you about my first day of school.

i was not scheduled to teach.

that`s right. i went to school and i sat there for a good hour until they told me i wasn`t going to be teaching. i would have known that before...had my computer been working and i could check my email for a lesson plan. but noooooo. so...i sat in the teacher`s room. for my whole life. pretending i was busy. it sucked, man.

best part of my day = eating lunch with the kids. holy cow, i love these kids. but yeah...i sat around all day long and then went home. it was rad. ...not.

i can`t even remember what i did after school that day...wow.

but the next day, friday...i actually taught two classes that day! two whole classes. of seventh graders. haha. the lesson plan for both classes was for me to introduce myself and then we`d have a related activity after that. the way i introduced myself was through a matching game. i wrote a bunch of numbers on the board and would have the kids pick two numbers. the numbers corresponded to questions and answers that i had written down. for example, 2 was what is your favorite color? and 4 was i like green. so they had to match the correct question with the correct answer to get to know me. ...make sense? haha, it`s so much easier to demonstrate these things...

anyway, the first class i taught was super into it. they loved it. and that was nice for me. that class was very energetic and lots of fun, which is a nightmare for some teachers, but it sure was a delight for me!! they`re my favorite class i`ve interacted with so far.

the next class, however, was the exact opposite. i had to twist their arms to get them to pick a number. and when they got a match, i was the only one that rejoiced. my heavens, it is so intimidating to be in front of an unresponsive class!! it unsettled me a little. but no fear! i got through it! and i love them anyway.

the activity after i introduced myself was different for both classes, because the teachers were different. in the first class, after i introduced myself, i became a human tape recorder. that is, the japanese teacher of english (from here on out, the jte) began teaching, mostly in japanese, and had me read dialog when she needed. just so the students could hear proper pronunciation and voice inflection and stuff. i didn`t mind it! i bet the kids were super bored though.

the second class`s activity was a lot of fun. after i introduced myself, the teacher passed out a sheet of paper where the students would write questions they had for me. that was the best...i can`t even tell you how many kids asked whether or not i liked tennis. how funny is that? i also got some great engrish questions like, "do you flower?" and "what best season is there?" i just love it. i am so happy these kids are willing to step out on a limb and try speaking english, whether it`s right or not. those are the kids that will go far in learning english.

wow, the teacher in me is coming out. hee hee. i didn`t even know i had one in there!

anyways...i love teaching those kids. they are so much fun. they are just so cute and i was overwhelmed with love for them when i first met them! and it really helps that they like me too. really, really helps. well, i hope it`s a like that will last. it may be because i`m just a novelty. a novelty with blonde hair and blue eyes and a geeky smile. but i have good fashion! at least, that`s what one of the other teachers told me today. she pointed to my sweater and said, "you have good fashion", and it made me so happy. one of my students liked my sweater today too! she kept pointing at me and saying something in japanese and i would just stare blankly at her. then she did the woman sillhouette thing with her arms...you know, the one that means curves? hahaha...i had no clue what she was talking about. but her english proficient friend helped her out and said, "pretty shirt". communicating with them is like playing charades. and it is the best.

but anyways...on the second day of school, when the kids actually saw me emerge from the teacher`s room, i got quite the response. i`m used to people staring at me by now, which is lucky, cause they sure do it a lot at this school, haha. when i would walk past them in the hall, the girls would say, "kawaii sensei, kawaii sensei!!" which means...cute teacher. hee hee! and now i get that all the time when i pass a group of girls. they look at me and say, "kawaii! kawaii!" they think i don`t know what they`re saying -- which is all too true sometimes -- but i know what kawaii means! wahahaha. they must have been daring each other to come up and talk to me. one girl walked up to me, bowed low, and said, "you are very pretty", and ran away laughing. similar things happened a couple times. my favorite though was when a boy came up to me and said, "i love you!" and ran away, laughing hysterically. needless to say, my self-esteem has never been so high. haha! and now that the students are getting comfortable with me, they will come up and say those nice things without running away and laughing. it makes me happy. they`re also starting to say cute in english when they see me, but it is always two very distinct syllables: "cute-to, cute-to!" it is very cute-to and i love it. whenever they say, "you are cute-to!" to me now, i say, "thank you! so are you!" and then their faces fall and they get this super blank look on their faces cause they have no idea what i said. i love it. sometimes they do, and they giggle; other times the jte will intervene and tell them what i said, and they giggle. hahahaha. lots of giggling at the school.

...i really wish i could take a camera to school and just film them all to show you, but sadly, that is strictly prohibited. very strictly prohibited. haha. i`m also not allowed to touch the students, which is hard, because i`m always wanting to pat them on the arm or something when they overstep their apparent shyness just to talk to me. i want them to know how much i appreciate it! and where i would normally do that with an arm/shoulder pat, i have to try really hard to restrain myself. really hard. i have to admit...some pats escape. but i am working on it.

so i am not allowed to touch the students, but i have one student who is very affectionate. in a good way. when she sees me in the hall, she yells, "erizubesu!!" and runs at me to give me a giant hug. i never know what to do. so i just kind of pat her on the head, haha. then she`ll just sort of hang on my arm, talking to her friends. while i stand there. haha. and then she links arms with me and drags me down the hall, asking me questions like, "do you have a dog? does your mom speak english?" and every student`s favorite question, "do you have a boyfriend?" or, as they say it, "you have boy-hu-riend-o?" very slow, and separated into distinct syllables. as i tried to illustrate...haha. when they ask that question, and i say yes, the unfortunate follow-up question always is, "do you have kids?" makes me sad those go hand in hand these days...but oh well. the point is! i love that little girl, and i try to return her affection with as little contact as possible. she must not realize it though, cause she always comes back for more! which makes me really really happy. :)

anyway...that`s enough for one school post. that`s largely what my posts will be about from this moment on, so you`ll hear plenty more! whether you want to or not. ha. :P

what are you sinking about?

this is what happened when liz tried to call the tokyo mission office.

*dials number*

recorded message: *voice speaks japanese...liz gets the idea that she`s basically saying, "this number doesn`t work, silly gaijin"*

*hangs up. tries dialing the number without a couple of the first numbers*

recorded message: *same japanese voice...*

*hangs up. tries again.*

recorded message: *yet again. same japanese voice*

*hangs up, frustrated. then reads the webpage again: "just take the first 0 off, silly kid". dials the number again. without the zero*

*phone finally starts ringing*

japanese man: *greets me in japanese*

liz: "uuuuuhhhh...do you speak english?"

japanese man: "of course. this is japan coast guard."

liz: "uuuuuuhhhh...i think i have the wrong number."

japanese man: "bye bye."

*liz hangs up. cries out in humiliation.*

the end.

SOY sauce!!!

kikkoman soy sauce.

ever heard of it?

i`d hope so. because that`s a famous brand of soy sauce. and guess what? i`m basically next-door-neighbors with the kikkoman soy sauce factory. hahaha! saddest claim to fame ever. buuuut, i`ll take it.

so, hello from noda-shi, chiba-ken! i currently live in a small apartment in a very nice, quiet town. it`s really quite lovely here. the only problem is...it`s very cold! quite a bit colder than tokyo! i was surprised by that...i figured it would be the same. but i`m waaaaay colder here than i ever was in tokyo. maybe it`s psychological, i don`t know. could i have thought myself into goosebumps and chattering teeth? possible. eh. maybe.

let me tell you how i came about living here. so, remember the day i came here? the day i came here was the day i had to drag my weight in baggage across tokyo, watch my internship coordinator as he dragged my weight in baggage across tokyo and was thus humiliated, and the day i received some training in a form that freaked me out and made me not want to teach anymore. so before i even left for my new home, i was pretty stinking frazzled.

i was taken to noda-shi by a sweet little japanese man that is a salesperson for the company i work for. his english is fantastic, though of course, there are a couple malapropisms here and here. i love it. plus you can tell that he`s working on phrases he`s learning. he seems so proud to deliver them. and then he smiles and says, "i just learned that one." haha, it`s the best. plus he starts most of his sentences by saying, "it`s like this..." and it`s great. well, this sweet man took one of my bags (again, humiliating me) and we took many trains to get to nodashi. actually, we only took three, really. and one was a "rapid" train that went faster than normal trains!! that was pretty neat. except i would absolutely love to go ride a bullet train, or shinkansen...but this was a decent substitute. you could tell we were getting farther and farther away from tokyo, because the train announcements no longer had english counterparts. they were delivered in japanese and that is all. that made me nervous. getting off on the wrong train stop is scary business!! (or so i have read). but, we made it to our stop, the entire trip taking a little over an hour and costing a little too much ￥。　　so then we got off the train and tried to find my apartment. that wasn`t fun, because i was so tired of carrying so much baggage and watching poor little man carry my baggage, and it was FREEZING. so naturally, while trying to find the right apartment, we got lost. it took us about fifteen minutes before we could find the right one. what i really wanted to do was plop down and take a nap, but no, i couldn`t do that either. japanese man and i had to fill out a checklist that had to be turned in, like whether or not everything worked correctly. so that took about another hour, because dear little man couldn`t figure out why the gas stove wouldn`t light. about a million tries, 10 minutes, and a phone call to the office later, we found out that they weren`t gas stoves at all, but electric ones. doh! but everything was figured out, the internet was set up, and everything was good to go. as soon as he left my apartment, i set up my futon and took a nap.

the next morning, i met dear little japanese man at the train station so he could show me where the school was that i would be working at. so we went to the school where i met the principal and the deputy principal in the principal`s office. they spoke about 3 words of english between them. so dear little man handed principal and deputy my resume with my picture on it and they all looked at it and discussed it for a few minutes. i just sat there smiling, looking clueless all the while. then they spoke a few words to dear japanese man and went into another room that was attached to the principal`s office. dear japanese man turned to me and said, "liz-san, it`s like this. the teachers are having a meeting in there, and you are going to introduce yourself to them. please use japanese." oh, okay. wait...what??? but wait a minute, i`ve been practicing an english introduction, complete with slow, easy sentences and hand gestures!! i felt like chris farley in that one skit.."i don`t speak japanese!!" however, i walked into the teacher`s room and i did my best. and my best basically translated to this: "good morning. im liz. i come from america. utah. i love japan. i like music. nice to meet you." it was pretty bad. so then dear japanese man did more talking and we left, with deputy principal escorting us to the door. we bowed to each other and he smiled really big and said, "good speech." i love that deputy principal.

after that, dear japanese man and i left for the noda city hall, where i had to apply for a "gaijin card", or basically gain license for me, an alien, to live in a japanese city. kind of odd, yes, but i`d like to be a law-abiding citizen, so okay. there i also met members of the board of education, who also received a copy of my resume. dear japanese man did all the talking, and once again, i sat there with a big smile on my face, clueless.

after receiving the paper version of my gaijin card and receiving all sorts of pamphlets and things about living in noda, dear japanese man and i headed to the nearby post office to set up a bank account. yeah, it`s not like the post office back home. dear japanese man and i were there FOREVER. honestly, we must have been there over an hour. we filled everything out and had to wait our turn and found out we did it wrong, so we had to do it again and then wait our turn and then i didn`t have all the right documents, and had to find out how to deal with that...that`s all i caught, anyway. i couldn`t understand exactly what was going on. but i kept dozing off in the waiting area and that was embarrassing. after that long and excruciating period, we headed to a shopping center to buy the correct garbage bags. my garbage has to be separated into three different types: combustible, non-combustible, and recycle. apparently garbage is a pretty big deal over here. like, i might get fined if it isn`t correctly separated in the right bags. i also have to write my name on my garbage bags. weird.

and finally, i was able to return home to prepare for my first day of school the following day.

now, i have to go to the convenience store to buy me some breakfast for tomorrow, before i forget. more later.

goodbye, asakusa... :(

wow, i haven`t really updated since sunday. let me fix that! so on sunday, three of us interns were going to try and find a church to attend. thanks to the great lds.org, we were able to find a meetinghouse in the vicinity of our hotel. plus it was an english speaking branch! and best of all, it didn`t start til 1:00! can life get any better? i submit that it cannot!! so we decided that since our church was so late in the afternoon, that we`d take a little side trip on our way to church to a place in harajuku called yoyogi park. it was a lovely park indeed...i bet it`s way better in the spring though. it was pretty, but the trees were a little too skeletal. i`ll have to go back there when it starts getting warmer. so we heard that it`s best to visit yoyogi park on sunday, because that`s when a lot of people go to the park dressed up in crazy outfits, like their favorite anime character!! that sounded pretty neat, so we figured we`d go check it out. however, we didn`t see any particularly odd looking people there. aside from a group of girls that were really quite amazing at frisbee, i didn`t see anything out of the ordinary. well, by japanese standards at least. i did see some of my favorite fancy-pants dogs, all done up for their trip to the park. i bet the boy dogs were impressed. unless they were boy dogs. which wouldn`t surprise me in the slightest.

anydangways, after a lovely, albeit somewhat disappointing walk around the park, we started to try to find our meetinghouse. of course, none of us know our way around tokyo. so we figured that the best way to find it would be to jump in a cab and have them take us directly to the address. and so i had my first trip in a japanese taxi. i sat in the front seat, and tried to ignore the people staring at me from the streets. our little trip didn`t last very long, so we only had to pay about 130￥　each. that was pretty sweet. so he dropped us off at the address, and we had about 3 minutes to go until the meeting was due to start. of course, we couldn`t find anything that looked like the meetinghouses we`re used to. luckily, i managed to spot a picture of the angel moroni on a window. in my excitement, i cried, "look, it`s MORONI!!" to my travel mates. a couple steps later, we saw a beautiful sign that said, "the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints". and there was much rejoicing. until a man came out of the building, and in perfect english asked, "oh, are you guys here for the meeting? they actually combined with another ward today and they`re meeting out by the temple." awww, man! when are they meeting, sir? "well...right now." awwwwwww man!!!! we tried so hard to get to church... :( but we took a picture in front of the sign to show that we tried. very hard. we went back to our hotel after that, and rested up. then we went to celestia`s room and had a wonderful little devotional. we sang out of ashley and celestia`s japanese hymnbooks (which, delightfully, was a lot easier than i anticipated), and had our own little scripture and testimony time. it was really, really nice. i`m with a group of great people. well...i was. until we all separated. anyways, after our little testimony meeting, we were able to enjoy a viewing of the testaments, courtesy celestia`s collection of random dvds. it was lovely indeed! then, as girls do, we chatted for quite a while before retiring for the night.

then we woke up to another lovely day of training! this time, we were joined by newcomers will, olivia, and lisa! the (relatively) exotic foreigners of the group! will is french canadian (don`t worry, he`s a cool one), olivia is from england, and dear lisa is an irish lassie. and they were able to join in the insanity that is assistant language teacher training...with jody. jody rules. when we went over company policies, he made us read them in different accents. it was fun. plus he has a hilarious anecdote for pretty much everything. good times.

after training, celestia and i dragged poor jet-lagged lisa around asakusa looking in shops and things. and i actually don`t think lisa was jet-lagged at the time. we were all having a lot of fun. so don`t worry, no lisas were harmed in the galumphing around asakusa. we went into a bunch of lovely shops. there was this one that my mom would have LOVED. lots and lots of rhinestones and sparkles. i wish they sold brooches, but they didn`t; most of the glitterier pieces were hair accessories, which would go unused by my dear mommy. don`t worry mommy; i`ll get you something else that`s nice. :D we also went into a lot of shoe stores, because celestia needed a new pair of shoes. oh, how i wish my feet were smaller. those stores contained some of the cutest shoes i`ve every seen!! and, of course, some bizarre ones too. i mean, it`s japan. you`ll get quite the odd selection. we also went into a department store that i would have loved to spend more time in. there was this little accessory shop that had the CUTEST things in it. being poor, however, i could only look and admire. a lot of it made me think of my sisters; i wish they had been there to enjoy it with me.

a pair of earrings and very tired feet later...i wound up back in my hotel room, thinking about how i needed to pack up my bags. i was slated for one more day of training, and was going to leave after that. i went to bed though, thinking i`d get a chance after training the next day.

the next day, dear celestia left us for hiroshima. :( i miss her much, but i know she`s doing fab. i mean...she`s celestia. she`s probably queen of that place already. upon meeting the other interns, however, i found that i was going to leave not long after lunch that day. so i`d only receive half a day of training. that bummed me out, because i loved the training sessions, and i was so sad to split up with the other interns. :( we just had so much fun together, and now we`ll all be so far away from each other!! well, brooke, kellan, olivia, and i will be somewhat close to each other...all within an hour of each other. that`s still a ten dollar, 1 hour train journey though...just one way. round trip...ugh. and then celestia will be in hiroshima and lisa will be roundabouts there too, i think...and ashley is in osaka. i probably won`t be seeing them again til the end of the internship. :( i miss them all. i would love to have a skype meeting with them every so often, but oh yeah...computersaurus over here is too old and wheezy to support skype!! and i better not try and download it...i`ll probably break its hip or something. well, actually, i`ll give it a try. you just never know until you try. however, if this computer bursts into flames and sparks when i hit the install button, i will no longer have a dear sweet connection to the rest of the world via the world wide web. it`s a gamble. and i choose life.

anydangways. back to me. so i had to go back upstairs and pack up my veal pen...i mean hotel room (thanks dad. that was hilarious, i tell you). and so began...the journey of doom to the interac office with all my baggage and crap. it`s okay, i didn`t go alone. the superhero internship coordinator was there too. yeah, there were a couple points when he took both of my bags down stairs and onto the trains and things. i wanted to curl up in a corner and die of the humiliation. he was super nice of course to do that, and i was very grateful. very, very grateful. i just found it so terribly embarrassing. you know what i mean? oh, it was awful.

well, after dragging my weight in baggage across the city, i made it to the office in time to receive some very stressful training and break for lunch. after that...i was to head to my new home in noda-shi.

to be continued.

the system...is down...

hello, precious friends!!

ahhh, so much has happened in the last couple days!!! so much to say...i would have loved to have written a chunk of haps yesterday, and i almost did, but noooooooo. my stupid computer wont start. and it makes me very frustrated. so now, thanks to the wonderful company i work for, i have been given a loaner computer. it is great and i am very, very grateful...however, its old. and it only speaks japanese. plus the punctuation marks arent where i am used to them being. so im sorry, but there will be no apostrophes today. try again tomorrow. but heres a cool aspect of my computer! check it out: にほんごですよ!！　　yes, i can type in japanese. cool.

well, im going to try and write a little bit in the time that i have. you see, it is almost 11pm here and i have to wake up early to commute to the school that im teaching at. it takes about...hmmm...45 minutes? to get to my school. walking, train and bus. woo!! actually, i have to say, i LOVE taking the trains here. i think its awesome. especially since im getting used to it. i had my first experience with a super crowded train today. there were like a million people on the train when it stopped at our station, but of course, a million more people piled on, including me. it was amazing. we were like a bunch of sardines. i was surprised that so many people were able to fit in there. so we were all mushed into this tiny space, and there was absolutely no complaint or protest from any passenger. i was so surprised. it was really quiet, and we all just crowded into together without a word. it was like we were moshing, but we were standing still. and not rocking out. to loud music. ...yeah... im pretty sure i was touching somebody elses butt with my own. that was pretty uncomfortable. but otherwise, it wasnt too bad. the other really scary part was when everyone was starting to get off the train at the next stop. i couldnt get off, because i hadnt reached my stop yet and i didnt feel like getting lost, so i did my best to stay on the train while the sea of people exited. yeah, that plan didnt last long. i picked up my feet to walk away from the door, but when i picked up my feet, i was basically carried by everyone elses weight. i pretty much floated to the door against my will. it was pretty weird. so i just left the train and got on again when everyone else left. why i didnt think of that before is a mystery. the goddess of prudence kind of left me in the lurch. anyways, yes. i like to travel on trains, even if they are crowded. i have to be in hyper-alert mode though. i have heard stories about women getting groped on crowded trains. luckily, it didnt happen to me. phew. im pretty much always in hyper-alert mode when the train starts getting crowded. we are taught that if we start feeling roaming hands, we are to grab the wrist of the perpetrator and yell, "chikan!!! (pervert/molester!!)" so i know what to do if such a thing happens, but i just really dont want to have to go through that. the end.

so anyways, the point is, i dont have time to write much. which is funny, because i took up all the time that i alotted for myself by going off on this train tangent. so, i guess ill end here with the promise that i will write more tomorrow. there may or may not be apostrophes included. i make no guarantees.

tokyo engrish.

i expected it to be a while before i saw any of this, but no. i found them right away, and all in one place too! a great place to find engrish is in the 100 yen stores, which are basically dollar stores. and these are the gems that i found there.



okay, so i lied. they're not all from the 100 yen store. this is actually from my hotel bathroom.




and you see these signs a lot at convenience stores.




this is a j-pop band we found in the book-off. i need to look these guys up on itunes...




the toilet in my hotel room comes with a warning sign. yikes.




it's always nice to see some optimistic hair accessories.






now this is one you'll see all the time. they sell hair gum everywhere. and they call it hair gum everywhere.





see? hair gum.




you'll probably have to enlarge the picture to enjoy this one. it's one of my favorites though.




more stella.





this is a journal, i think.






shameless self-promotion of the memo pad.




good thing this notebook is easy to use cause most notebooks are really hard to use...




the conservationalist.




another notebook.





this is a hanko case. a hanko is a stamp that people use for signatures.






oh, the easy!




this was a little package of sparkly cupcake stickers.






this is a journal with a cute puppy on the cover. a well-trained puppy.





for some reason, that doesn't sound very pleasant...






i don't remember what this was, but i quite appreciate the brand name.






some elusive stationery...






toothpaste.






meet your beauty!






i can't tell if it's a happy hanger or if it's where i hang my joy.






make goods.






...huh??






the reason for presents.





my favorite kind!






this one says, "some paint pictures. some write poetry. i dress up and step out". i like it.






yay.






brilliant logic on a hand towel.




i have no idea what this is. it was with all the car stuff though. i'm guessing it's a defroster. hahaha.





i just can't leave that softness.



anyways, that's all for now! please forgive the stupid captions. it's late. hahaha.