Old updates...

More updates (from April! Ah!)

So of course various tings have been happening. But some things have been happening rather fast that I forget to keep this thing updated.
Gomen ne!

Hokay so…the last thing I wrote about was being on TV.

So…let’s see…since graduation…I’ve gone through White Day, Weekend trip with the ichinensei teachers, gamed with other JETs at Round 1, went to a Hinamatsuri party, learned a Hinamatsuri song, received books, went to a BBQ/hanami party, met a new buddy of a buddy, found a pair of jeans that fit, bought shoes, went to 2 enkais (one that made my day/week), found out some teachers are leaving, found out who I’ll be team-teaching with next year, had 2 long dinners with a buddy (one that was extended into karaoke), dyed my hair and I’m going to bake around 170 cookies for Monday.

I bet most of you have no idea what I’m talking about…

Let me explain:
White Day: In Japan, Valentine’s day is celebrated a little differently. For Valentine’s day, February 14th, the girls/women usually hand out the chocolate/goodies. It can be girl to girl or girl to boy. Whichever is ok. I like to bake goodies during holidays so I baked a carrot cake (the other round pan having gone to the people at the Kawashoku) and 2 square pans of brownies (one with walnuts). So one month later, March 14th, the guys return the favor. In other words, the guys give the girls/women who had previously given them chocolates, sweets! Of course, both of these days happened to have landed on a Saturday so my school celebrated each on Friday.
So I went to work and was surprised but happy to have received a box of pecan cookies from the ichinensei teachers (later it dawned on me it was from all the male teachers. Just like we had done for them for Valentine’s day). So anyway, I didn’t think too much about it since I do randomly come to work only to find someone has left some sort of treat on my desk. But when the kouchou-sensei gave me a box of chocolate marshmellows and said it was a return favor for the Valentine’s treat I had given him, I fully understood what was going on. I also got sweets from my Kyoto-sensei, host mom grandkids, Onitsuka-san from the Kawashoku, jimuchou (although it came quite later), English department and from the guys that work in the main office. Oh! Also from some students. ^^v

Weekend trip:
So some teachers that teach the first years planned out a trip. I said early on that I’d participate (because I figured it’s great to get to know your co-workers in a more casual setting and because I’m trying to be part of the group. But I will not lose myself on the way! ;P ) Anyhoo, we went to Nagasaki and overall had a great time! We saw a neat little shop that’s known for it’s tea (bought lots of it and it’s all in my cubbard now), ate yummy shabu shabu, took some pictures and went to an onsen. The only down side is that I got a little sick in the beginning… I’m not sure if it was because it was a bit of a long drive or because I had oysters for the first time. Although it was fun cooking them and they were rather tasty, they just didn’t sit well with me. Needless to say, a handful of my co-workers saw me throw-up. -_-;
Round 1:
This is a place with lots of games and sports and other awesome things! It’s basically a big arcade. But if you go to the top and pay a fee for about 3 hours of play, everything those levels are pretty free and fare game! There are batting cages, archery corners, tennis courts, volleyball courts, roller skating rink, ping-pong tables, arcade games (where I totally pwnd a friend at Tekken 5!!!) and much much more!

Hinamatsuri:
This is basically known as “Girl’s Day” in English. During this time, a girl princess, prince, 5 musicians, princess’ court, peach tree and other things are set up on display! And there’s a traditional Japanese song that is sung during this time. When I was invited to go celebrate Hinamatsuri by Shibata-san (first host-mom), Yamaguchi-san (second host-mom) taught me the song while we walked to Shibata-san’s house (which is really really close to the school. Read “michi wo mayorimashita” to understand).
Great company. Delicious food. Random pictures. Good times. ^^b

Books:
I ordered some books from Amazon for my school. Months ago, we were asked to recommend some books to the students (every teacher can if they choose to). Well, the librarian had some trouble finding the books I suggested. So she asked me to buy them and that I would be reimbursed by the school later (which did happen). But it was rather fun to receive packages then think about reading all those books again…

BBQ/Hanami:
Hanami = flower viewing. Bascially, come have a picnic under a beautiful sakura tree, eat bentos with dango and drink sake.
So because there was a 3-day weekend, a friend decided to host a BBQ (which turned into a BBQ/hanami party). So much fun.  And I got to meet Takayuki! But he told me to call him Taka. Taka studied in Taipei around the same time my awesome buddy Julia was studying there (she still is actually…HI JULIA!!!). Well anyway, it was fun and it was nice to meet someone new. :]

Jeans: I went to Marinoa City with a buddy and found a store with lots of jeans. I asked for what their biggest size was it turned out that it did fit me big!!! :-o
Surprising, ne? So I bought a pair of slightly expensive jeans which were hemmed right then in there!!! I only had to wait about 20 minutes!!! Iina~!

Speaking of shopping. I bought some shoes. I got some for running and some really cute polka-dotty ones. I miss my polka-dot Vanz that I left at home and really miss having shoes I can just slip on and off. So I got those. Different than the other pair but I think my other pair was more comfy in the sense that there’s not a lot of stitching around the toes.

2 Enkai:
So an “enkai” is an office party. They’re usually around the beginning of a year and the end of a year (actual year and scholastic year). So I went to 2. One was a retirement party for the office manager and a science teacher and other enkai was with my


Up next: going to Oita-ken for another Hanami thing and then going to meet up with my Oxy Ohana. Either in Wakayama-ken or Osaka. Plans are still being made.



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I dunno...I had to go somewhere and never finished writing...oops... ><"