A gift for everyone to enjoy!

You know how I don't post pictures all that often? It's not that I don't take pictures. In fact, I'm always taking pictures. I love taking pictures. It's just a giant pain to put them in my journal. I have to resize them, and then I have to upload them, and then I have to put them into my journal's code and make sure it's all ok and not too big. It takes a long time and it's a big hassle. So I usually only post pictures that I know you will enjoy and make sense to post. I found that if I worried about posting pictures all the time, I would put off writing my journal. A lot of times, thats why I would go a couple of weeks without updating, I just didn't want to worry with pictures.

But like I said, I love taking pictures. I want to have good memories of my time here and pictures are lasting memories. So I take pictures and put them on my computer. And then they stay there for only me to enjoy.

But that's about to change! You see, I have spent the last two days uploading ALL of my pictures to an online account. It's here. If that doesn't take you to the right place, then go to www.photobucket.com and search for sujihime. That should take you to my albums.

There is about 400 pictures uploaded to the net there in different albums. I have labeled each picture and tried to give a short explanation of the picture. I have also separated them into different albums to make it easier to look at everything. If you have a question about a certain picture, you can email me and ask me and I will try to explain it to the best of my ability. Also, for some weird reason, they uploaded in reverse order than they were taken, for the most part. So I hope it's not too long. The whole 'Kobe' section is completely unseen pictures. There were so many, that I never got around to showing them to anyone.

This really took me forever to do, so I hope everyone enjoys them. Honestly, it is every picture I have on my computer that isn't a duplicate, blurry, or non-Japan. All the of the pictures that I have taken over the last couple of years.

Please enjoy! And please look at them! It took me forever to do and this is my gift to you! (not Christmas gift, those will come in July, but just a gift while I had time to do it).

How we celebrated Christmas

Christmas was a little subdued, but it was nice this year.

We got up around 9:00 and spent the morning waking up and surfing the internet. Around noon we got ready and went out for lunch. We ended up having some ramen at the restaurant nearby. It was very yummy. We haven't actually had any for awhile.

When we came back around 1:15, we had a surprise waiting for us in our mailbox. Chris's Christmas iPod finally arrived. Santa just sent it through the mail so it got here a little sluggishly. ^_^ How happy! Also, it was very lovely because included in the box that Jane and Randy sent was fun sized Snickers and Mounds! Oh my gosh, you can't imagine how devine they are. You see, they have Snickers here in Japan, but they aren't the same! Oh, don't get me wrong! They are very much the snickers you see in America, but they taste a little different. They have less peanuts and the nugget tastes....wrong. So having American Snickers is lovely. I miss American candy. So that was fun.

Our second Christmas surprise came around 1:30. We got a phone call. It was the police! Oh noes! But wait, guess what?! They found my bicycle! Do you remember? It was stolen from me a couple of weeks ago and that was sad. But they found it and they were holding it at the police station. You see, when you buy a bike legitimately, they give you a unique registration number and put it on your bike. Apparently, someone found it and called the police. I have no idea where. I hadn't even reported it missing! How lovely! I'm so pleased to have my bike back.

We picked it up around 2:00 and then went to the library to drop off some library books. They were due today and I was having nightmares about overdue fees. Seriously...nightmares. How weird! After that, we came home and chilled out some more. Chris was playing with his iPod and we were messing around.

Around 6:00 we decided to have dinner. But what do you have for Christmas dinner in Japan? Hmmm...

It's very makeshift! Basically, dinner was: chicken nuggets, corn, stove top, and garlic bread. For dessert, we had Christmas cake that I decorated myself. Now, there is a reason for all the foods.

We had chicken nuggets because it's very much a tradition in Japan to eat fried chicken for Christmas. I am not kidding. It is. KFC is the hot ticket. It's so busy during Christmas, that you have to place your order for chicken weeks in advance. Why do they eat chicken? Because that's what thought the West did and eventually it just became a tradition. So in the spirit of the Japanese Christmas, we chose to eat chicken nuggets.

Corn was eaten...well...because you need vegetables when you eat dinner and I didn't want to fool with green beans or anything else. So maybe there isn't a reason for the corn.

The Stove Top was to simulate the traditional American meal. We always ate turkey and dressing. So we decided to do Stove Top. This box was sent to me several months ago from America. Don't be fooled. You can't buy Stove Top in Japan.

Garlic Bread was because we needed rolls and we have this nifty garlic butter. Why just have buttered bread when you can have garlic bread? Maybe it's a mantra.

Also, Coke. It would be unAmerican to drink anything other than Coke, don't you think?



So that was our holiday meal.

After dinner, we had Christmas cake!



I didn't bake it, but I did decorate it. You see, the Christmas Cake is another Japanese tradition. It's pretty much essential to the celebration of Christmas. Christmas is a greeting card holiday in Japan. But the together and family part, comes from eating the Christmas cake together. So yesterday, Chris and I bought a unfrosted cake. It had been baked awhile ago and sealed and preserved. Then, we got some cream and made whip cream. It was definitely a team effort since we had to make whip cream from regular cream by hand. That's a lot of whipping! Then, I decorated the cake with that and the most expensive strawberries in the world (but soooo good). Tonight, after dinner, we celebrated our togetherness and Christmas by having cake. It's a very small cake, enough for about four servings, but kinda tasty. It reminds me of Kroger/Ingle's bakery cake, but with whipped cream frosting. It's less sweet because of the light fluffy frosty. Might tasty, if I do say so myself!

Now, we are relaxing once more. We are going to watch some TV shows from Chris's iPod. You see, we also got a cable that lets us watch from the iPod on the TV. Cool!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Know that I will be thinking of you!

Normal Update

So let's talk about what I've been up to recently.

Last weekend was kinda busy. I had an afternoon Saturday English class with Saturday English school. Normally we meet from 10:00-12:00 but someone took our room so we had to do a 1:00-3:00 class. Only one kid showed up! Also, he left at 2:15 so Miymi and I got to leave early!

Which was good because our tutor was having a Christmas party from 2:00-4:00. Leaving early meant I was able to get to the party on time. Chris went with Ewan, so he was fine. The party was nice. I missed out on the tacos but I got some good yaki-soba. And shortbread! Ewan, who is Scottish, made shortbread. It was divine. Short-bread has always been my favorite type of cookie, and to have some made by a real live Scotsman? Heaven! Mmmm...

We also got handed out some gifts. Chris got a box of crackers and I got a kanji notebook for writing kanjis in, which I totally haven't. Also, remember how I bought a yukata in October? Mishima's mom was finished with it! So I got my Yukata as well. It's beautiful and blue. I don't have pictures yet, because we are going to have a Yukata wearing party or something. Anyways, maybe I will take pictures of it not on or something. Cool!

Sunday was kinda cool. I had a party at my English school with a few of the older kids. We decorated a Christmas tree which was fun, watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, made Christmas cards, and ate Cookie ice cream! Yum! All in all, it was pretty fun.

Monday I recorded my voice for a highschool entrance exam for one of Nishi's sister schools. That was a confusing sentence, so let me explain my meaning! In Japan, to get into a high school after middle school, you have to take an entrance test. Not everyone goes to high school in Japan. In fact, lots of kids just get jobs right out of middle school.

Anyways, part of this test is an English test and they wanted me to record some lines for a listening test. It was pretty fun. It made me realize (and this is going to be conceited) that I have a nice recording voice and I could totally be that person who records simple english phrases for Japanese people. My voice isn't always super soothing and wonderful, but when I have to record myself, I find that I change my normal timbre to a nicer one. ANYWAYS, it was still fun and they gave me $50 for it! Always a perk.

And honestly, that's about all that's been going on. My classes are winding down, in fact, I only have one class next week. We had some goodbyes and some parties and I made some cards. Hmmm...last night we went to Yonago to see Eragon. Wow, that movie wasn't that great. It was cute, but not that great. Definitely, not worth $18 per ticket. Oh well, it was a nice trip. Also, I bought the winner of my cassette tape contest her prize. I'm not going to say what it is. I will send it out after Christmas.

Katie won, btw. She's the only one who sent a tape. However, she probably would have won anyways because her tape rocks. Woo! Just know, I didn't forget you, Katie. Or my promise of a good prize. :) Just be patient, I am slow at mailing things and it's been a busy time (excuses, excuses, excuses.)

So that's that. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So...I've Been Thinking...

Now, I'm going to fuss a bit, because I'm more than a little homesick and rather depressed about the lack of Christmas here. Here's our tree, by the way:

I have two little trees that I was sent, however, one is at the school in kisuki and the other is with a friend so he can have a party for some of his students. As much as I would have liked to put my small tree up, I will be able to have many, many more trees in the future and the students won't so much. So this is our tree. It's kinda cute, maybe in a sad way.

Ok, back to my fuss. I try to keep my journal updated about what Chris and I are doing and all that jazz. I know that I am infrequent and getting worse and worse with the updates, but it was a busy two weeks. But I do try and I have spent a lot of time trying to give you interesting updates and chitchat about what's going on so you can still maybe feel connected to me.

But what about you guys? Seriously, what about you? I haven't heard from anyone besides Mom and Jane in a really long time. I have no clue what is happening in your life. I just feel really really left out. I know I'm really far away...but we have this wonderful technology called the internet, where people can email and keep in touch instantly. Instant messengers are all the rage now. I use two separate ones! They even have internet telephones that are FREE to use. Yet everything remains silent.

I feel like I'm the only one making much of an effort. And I know its more important to me, because as much as you guys miss us, you have everyone else to keep track of things. I just have the little bit that trickles in through my mom or Jane. Lord, I even try to haunt myspace to catch a glimpse of what's going on, but no one updates those journals either.

Seriously. You all have my email. I get forwards from some of you, but never real emails. I gave up emailing people when they remained unanswered. But here's a reminder to everyone:

Email: sujihime@gmail.com
AIM: sujihime
MSN: sujihime@msn.com
Skype: sujihime (free internet telephone service that you can use to talk via mic over the internet)
Cellphone email: sujihime@ezweb.ne.jp (it's just like regular email, but it comes to my cellphone, free)
Myspace: sujihime
Facebook: susie willis

Honestly...I just want to know what's going on with everyone. I know the world is still turning back in america, but I haven't the foggiest of anything that is happening...

Long time, no update (LONG update + pictures!)

So I've been busy! No complaining about no updates. Busy = less time to update. Heh, but now I have a LONG update to do. But I shall date it so you can keep up...hopefully.

Sunday, December 3rd:
On Sunday, Chris and I met up with Jason, Ewan, and Etushi (Ewan's friend) and we drove to Yonago to watch Casino Royale. The movie was awesome. Daniel Craig is a very very good James Bond. He fits my image of James bond way more than the last few pansies who played him! Barrel chested, more physical and less gadgets, and what not. I am not a big James Bond fan though, but this movie was awesome. I would be pleased if they remade a lot of the older films in this style.

After the movie, we had a nice dinner and then headed home. Thats about that.

Tuesday, December 5th:
Tuesday was a busy day for me. I had to monitor some finals at Nishi. So I got up and got to school around 9:05. I was all proud because I got there 15 minutes and I had time to relax and get some stuff together before I had to monitor finals. So I put my coat and bag down to mark that I was here when some lady runs up to me, grabs my arm and hurries me to class. Apparently, they started classes at 9:00 to make time for all the finals but FORGOT to tell me! Grrr! It was really cold, too. I put my jacket down and thats when I was snagged. Also, I didn't have my bag with my book in it. So observing was B-O-R-I-N-G. I had to stand and watch students take a test for 50 minutes. And thats all I could do. I guess I could have wandered around but I just stood there. 50 minutes! The second class was better because I was able to grab my bag and have a book.

After that, I had class at Enya. It was a presentation class for the parents though. I was really nervous! People are curious about me and how I teach because I am a foreigner so people watched me. My class did extremely well, though. I was very proud of them. We had been practicing and learned things previously, but they did so well.

That evening was tutoring. Tutoring is going well. Mishima-san is really keen and very good at explaining Japanese. My improvement is becoming more and more noticable. So yay!

Wednesday, December 6th:
Wednesday went well as well. It didn't really start until about 5:30 when I had my new class! I now have two classes at Kisuki (and maybe more will start up after the new year)! This class has 3 students in it. There are two girls who are both 7 and one boy who is 10. This class is challenging in a new way. These kids are completely a blank slate with regards to English. Well, the boy knows more that the girls, but still. It's an interesting challenge. We are starting with numbers and feelings and will move on to some other things like colors and animals soon. I hope they enjoy it. It will be cool to see them improve and know that I helped them get better.

With my older class, the two 11/12 year olds, things are going well. In fact! I had a wonderful experience. My student who has been struggling a little bit...she read a book! By herself! How exciting! :) The other student is more advanced that her and she read a harder book. Hooray. I taught someone how to read! How fun. It's very rewarding to see the results of your tutelage. :)

Thursday, December 7th:

Thursday was a pretty normal day. I had my Nishiko first graders and had them color a Christmas tree and we had a simple Christmas chat. It was pretty fun but uninteresting. For Enya, we just went over some adjectives. The kids seemed to enjoy though. I taught them the all important word "because". You would be surprised to realize how much you use 'because....'. So that was neat.

After school though, thats when the magic happened! I got my hair cut. The length was driving me crazy! But this time, I decided to get it cut short and layered a bit, plus...bangs! Heh. Here is before and after photos:



Go ahead, tell me how pretty it looks! It actually looks really good there. I haven't been able to recreate this look (though I did it myself) but usually its because I am less patient in the morning. Today I have it pulled up into a tight ponytail and I put 'wax' in it to make it stay. And bobby pins. My hair matches bobby pins perfectly so thats good. So yay! Haircut!

Saturday, December 9th:
This day was my Saturday English party. It was pretty tame but nice. Chris and I met up with Angelo and Mark and headed to Sanpino to have a Christmas party. I brought some decorations and the students helped us decorate. There were some tasty snacks and I brought some Christmas music that I burned to a CD. That was pretty nice. Mark organized a Jeopardy type game for my students and then the students got to ask everyone questions. We also talked about Japanese traditions during New Years and what-not.

That was pretty much it for Saturday. Afterwards, we came home and took a nap. Are't we the most exciting people ever?


Monday, December 11th:
On Monday, I met with my tea ladies and we went and had lunch at a nearby Italian restuarant. We spent a lovely time chatting and eating Italian food. We also had a small gift exchange. I got a cute little pig figurine. Next year is the year of the pig, so that's why I was given one. I think it's lucky. It's also my birth zodiac/year/thing so I figure it is bound to give me lots of luck. Or something.

After tea, I went to the library and got a library card! Then, I checked out books! My library card is way cooler than yours. They stick it in a little card slot and it prints out what I checked out and when I need to return it on the card. And then, when I turn my books in, they will put it back in the card thing and it will erase it and put my new information on it! How cool! I have no idea how it works, but they use this for a lot of things (like point cards and whatnot). After that, I walked home...

Oh wait! Asked me why I walked. Ok, I'm pretending you asked. MY BIKE WAS STOLEN! :( That is very sad for me. I loved my bike and don't care much for Chris's. But...c'est la vie. It's still poopy that someone would take it. :( Anyways...

After the library, I walked home. It was so pretty on monday! It was about 50 degrees out and sunshiney. So pleasant. It was a long walk from the library, but I didn't really have anything else better to do. Good times.

That night, we did it. We finished the last of the X-files. We have officially watched all 9 seasons of it. What an undertaking. It's a little depressing that we are done. But now! We can watch other things. Plus, I really enjoyed X-Files. It was a very good show. I didn't watch it when it came on the air, because I saw the scariest episode ever (its been voted that time and time again) and it put me off the show. But woo...9 seasons...plus the movie. That's a lot of tv watching. Huh.

Tuesday, December 12th:
This was the day!

It started off normally. I went to class at Nishisko. I only had my 3rd graders so it wasn't that hard. I handed them back their finals and then proceeded to teach them some Christmas songs. I poisoned them with "Feliz Navidad!" Mwuahahaha! They never knew what hit them! I left the class hearing them humming the sum. Heh. Earworms! They are very amusing to teach. It was also interesting to teach because it was Spanish instead of English. I think my students enjoyed it more than the other songs I tried to teach.


After that...it was the time. My big, big presentation class. I had to do my class (the same class I did for parent's day the prior tuesday) in front of a bunch of people. About 50 people came to watch. I mean, it wasn't just MY class, but mine and the other Super English teachers at Enya. We were all nervous and have spent the last month and a half preparing for this. Fortunately, my class went very well. The students responded well and were very cheerful. Look! Here's a picture!

You can't see much, but this is how I talk to kids. I do funny things with my hand. Heh. I didn't realize this until I looked at the picture. Good class. I'm just so glad it's over.

After my class, though, I had to go to this absolutely ridiculous meeting. It was entirely in formal Japanese we I don't understand very well. Everyone was also speaking really fast. PLUS, the meeting was really long. I was annoyed that I had to go. I really only had to go so I could be the token foreigner. It kinda looks good for Enya that I foreigner teaches Super English there. And that's it!

So thats my update! Very long and kinda boring. I hope you enjoy it though!

Merry Christmas!

So what's new?

Not much new here (hence the lack of updating). We are still muddling along.

Yesterday (Friday, December 1st) I had to give my fall semester final to my students at Nishi (West Izumo High). They didn't tell me that I had to give my final until the week before though. That was kinda dumb of them! But even dumber was the fact that they scheduled both my classes' finals on the same day in the same period. Gah! I ended up just having all the students (1st years and 3rd years) in one room and gave them the same final. It was pretty easy so I am hoping they did well. I gave them a test a couple of weeks ago and my seniors (3rd years) pretty much bombed it. I think they weren't taking the test seriously. They sure looked upset when I handed them back the grades though. Oh well. I am hoping that the finals yield much better results.

After my test, I had to give a private test in the nurse's because one of my students was sick. It turned out to be a fun trip. I gave the test and the student went to lie down. Then the nurses descended upon me and gave me tea and gross Japanese candy. I think I am becoming immune to my dislike of Japanese tea. I don't hate the tea anymore. I still don't like it, but I don't hate it. The nurses were interested in America and talking to me. It was a very enjoyable chat. I think I handled myself quite skillfully in Japanese. Maybe I spoke only basic Japanese, but I was always able to make myself understood. Woo. When they gave me the gross candy, I polite mentioned that I didn't care for it, so they gave me pumpkin flavored off-brand kitkats. They were pretty good. I ate two of them!

The day before my test, on Thursday, I had a good day at Nishi. I absolutely adore my 1st years. They are so...willing to go along with my stupid teaching plans. Unfortunately, I didn't actually plan for Thursday's class so I winged it (wang it? wung it?). It led to an amusing time. Our topic was ordering food at a fast food restaurant, so I wrote out a menu on the board and had the students come up to my podium-thing and pretend they were ordering. Heh. The kids were cute with it and played with me. It was all completely imaginary, but they did good. I am confident in their ability to order a hamburger from McDonald's in America.

As far as I can remember, that is pretty much all that has happened this week. Today was kind of a slow day, which is nice for a Saturday. After I got back from class, we had yummy grilled sandwiches (that I so totally made) and then rented some more X-Files and Lilo and Stitch. We watched Lilo and Stitch...and I have to say, I was expecting it to be a completely different movie. That is one of the saddest Disney movies I have seen! It's up there with Anabel's Wish. I promise! It was a very good movie, a little silly, but definately not as silly as the previews made it out to be.

And to top all that off, we had a marvelous American Style dinner. I cooked some Macaroni and cheese (thanks Mom and Jane!) and some mixed vegetables (with garlic, butter, and pepper...mmm!). Chris was the master chef though and cooked...steak! We got three small steaks (for $8.00! I know! So cheap) and Chris pan seared them to perfection! Very yummy! I like dinners like that. It always makes me feel like I actually know what I'm doing when I'm cooking. Plus, it helps with the homesickness.

Tomorrow we are going to see the new James Bond movie with some other ALTs...so that should be fun!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and week!