The cry of my heart today

Draw me close to you
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I'm your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
Cause nothing else can take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to you

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know you are near

Chopsticks

Wow, time really goes fast here. It feels like I just blogged yesterday. Saturday night, Sarah and I met up with three other new teachers from the other campus. It stinks that they are so far away. It wouldn't be so bad if one of us could drive, but by train or bus it takes a while to get from one campus to the other. Hopefully after next week Sarah will be able to drive again. Her year permit for driving is up, so she has to get an actual Japanese license. I am definitely not comfortable enough with the roads to even try to drive yet. I still have occasional moments of panic when I see a car turning in the wrong lane towards us, except for them, it is the right lane. I think it will take a while longer until I get the hang of it. I also still have to mentally remind myself to walk to the opposite side of the car as the passenger. Weird. Even when I am walking somewhere, I can't remember which way to look first because I'm not sure which side the cars should be coming from, haha. Although, it's on my life to do list to drive a car like this on the opposite side of the road! So, I will soon be able to cross that off of my list.

Sunday we had fellowship. A bunch of the foreign staff (weird that I am a foreigner) gets together once a month for "church." Singing songs, someone talks, reading the Bible, prayer.. It was really nice to have that. It is weird not going to church twice a week. I am hoping to maybe try to find a church that I can attend. There is one that is a Japanese church, but they hand out the sermon in English. We'll just have to see what I can find.
After fellowship we went out to eat. I had a hard time figuring out what to order. You basically order raw meat and cook it yourself. It wasn't bad. Not my number one pick for food in life, but..I guess maybe for life in Japan it will have to do.

This week I have been at Takamori campus (the campus across town) observing. It's weird being over there, but I have liked being in those classrooms. It is good to see all of the different teaching styles teach the same material. Although the curriculum is very specific, I have seen that you can add your own personality and teaching styles to it as well.
Tomorrow, I will be "teaching" for the first time. Nothing big really. I am supposed to lead stations and lunch, which are the easiest parts of the day I think. Teaching-wise anyway. It will be good to have something to during the day besides just observe. I will actually be alone with the kids for a bit on Monday in Sarah's room. She is going to get her drivers lesson, so I will be watching her class. I'm pretty sure it is just play time, so shouldn't be too hard!

In other news, I am pretty much almost a pro at the whole chopstick thing. I have had a couple of compliments on my skill. Especially from someone that saw me eat my corn that very first day, haha!

Most embarrassing moment in Japan so far...

Thursday and Friday were open house for the two different kindergarten levels. First I watched Sarah's open house. She had about 17 to 18 parents standing in the back of the room watching her teach. Pretty intimidating, but she did an amazing job! Then Friday I watched the five year old kindergarten classes. Everything went really well. Well, except we woke up Friday to about six inches or so of snow. I quickly realized that I need snow boots, all I have are dress boots and those don't quite work well in the snow.

Friday night four of us girls went to dinner and a movie. We went to an all you can eat Italian buffet. The food was pretty good! There was a table full of junior high aged boys who kept daring each other to walk by us and say something..and then they would all laugh. Even their mothers who were at a table next to them. They all just stared at us the whole time. I mean, not the occasional look at us and look away quick, but full on stared. It was awkward, but apparently a very normal thing. When we got up and left, tons of people said, "goodbye" to us. It was funny, but really weird. The movie we went to was in English with Japanese subtitles. They also serve caramel popcorn. Yummy!!

Okay..so on to the most embarrassing moment.. I needed money from the ATM. So, I walked on over there this morning, it's just right down the road. I got there and realized everything was in Japanese, so I just tried pushing buttons and it didn't work. So, I went home and told Sarah and she was supposed to go back with me. Anyway, then I had a meeting. At the meeting they gave us a sheet telling us how to use the ATM. So, after the meeting a few people were going down to the store. The ATM is right beside it, so I decided to be independent and try it on my own. Well....I should have waited for Sarah!

I pressed the right buttons, inserted my card just as it told me. Then it told me to insert my bank book. Which is kind of a log for your banking. Well, the computer screen showed the book opening, closing, and then going in the slot. So, I put the closed book in the slot. Big mistake.. It wouldn't come back out. A little cartoon lady came on the screen saying something, and the speakers inside the atm were saying something, but I had no idea. All I knew was that my book was stuck. So, I contemplated trying to ask someone outside, but really didn't know what to do. I saw a lady and her son walk by. She must have seen my confused face, becuase when I poked my head out the door she was still standing there watching me. She was so sweet and came in and through gestures and a few English words she saw what happened.

There is a help phone in the atm, so she called for help. We somehow managed to communicate to each other enough to tell the dude on the phone what happened. She got off the phone, looked at me, looked at her son, and thought very hard how to tell me what to do. After much thought she said, "Coming. Wait." I gathered that she said someone was coming. Then she said, "I wait." So she waited with me. She was so helpful and sweet! Luckily, Rumi, who is like our translator for anything that we need.. (doctor appointments, travel arrangements, anything really) she found out what was going on and came out to help. So the lady left and Rumi told me it'd be five minutes. Anyway, about this time a bunch of people I knew started coming out and all saw me stuck in the atm. So, this repair man came and had to unlock the back of the machine and get my little book out. Then he showed me that you have to open the book before you put it in. Thanks Mr. Repairman. I gathered as much!

So, I felt like an idiot. Thank goodness for that nice lady, I'm not sure what I would have done without her! People here are so helpful to foreigners. They really are patient with us and go out of their way to help us sometimes.

Japanese food makes my clothes stink!

My coat still smells like oconomiyaki from the other night. I need to wash it so bad. Tonight we went to the dinner hall and I came out smelling like curry. My clothes just absorb the smells, I guess. Guess that just means the clothes that I would normally wear a couple times without washing will now be washed after every wear. (Yes..I admit to re-wearing clothes without washing, so what.)

Today I got to spend time with the K-4 class. Half of which will be my kids come April. It was good to see them in the classroom in advance. I got to see the bossy ones, the super smart ones, the ones who are a little spacey. Things to watch out for in my classroom. Speaking of, I can't wait to rearrange and decorate and make my room mine.

So I got my wii in the mail today from my parents. I am so excited! I took it up to Sarah's apartment (since I don't have a tv yet) and we played. It's pretty hilarious to watch someone else play, especially boxing! I love my wii fit and can't wait to play it more! I think we will have fun with this thing. I do want to get more games eventually, but, apparently you can't play the wii games here on wii's bought in America. Dumb. I'm pretty sure the things are made in Japan.

Once again, nothing too exciting for the day. Oh! Except, apparently we have had 2 earthquakes since I have been here. I have not felt either one. One on Sunday morning, and one tonight. Sarah and I were playing wii when it happened I think, so we never would have known. I am excited to feel an earthquake, but not too big of one! I think I might freak out!

Today was another full day. I was in the other K-5 room observing today. It was good to watch Anne because she is the teacher that I will be working with the most. I think we will work well together. I don't think I realized how much there is to do before my class starts. And, at the same time, I really don't know what all I have to do. I don't know what I will have, what will be left for my classroom, what I need to come up with on my own and make on my own. It's all a little overwhelming when I think about it. But, Sarah kind of calmed me a bit today as I started to be overwhelmed. Anne is great at telling me what she thinks I should do in advance. But, it's hard to do without a room and knowing exactly what I will be doing. It's challenging to say the least. It's good to know Sarah went through the same thing last year so she knows kind of what to tell me and such.

I am excited though. Sometimes I am scared that maybe I have forgotten everything that I learned in college, but hopefully it starts to come back to me as I start doing stuff. I wish I would have gotten this job straight out of student teaching. I feel a little rusty. I know the timing is the way that it is for a reason though.

Tomorrow I am in a K-4 room. So half of the kids I will be observing will be mine come April! I am excited about that. At least the kids will come into my room at least knowing my face and name. Thursday and Friday this week are open house. Open house here is quite intimidating. Parents, grandparents, siblings, whoever..they come to school with the child and pretty much watch the teachers teach and interact with the kids. I can't imagine 30 adults in the room just watching my every move! Luckily, I am only observing this time. :)

I finally got my bank card, so I can go get money out of the ATM. My name is written in Japanese symbols, so hopefully it is my card anyway!

Nothing too exciting today, sorry! :)

Love and miss you...

Oconomiyaki

Now, some of you might think, "God bless you" after reading that title, but it is actually what I had for dinner last night. :) Sarah, another girl Nancy, and I went to a true Japanese restaurant last night. We sat on the floor and everything! See:

I was a little nervous about the food, but I was assured you could get pork or beef and it wouldn't have any sneaky seafood in it. They truly do that here, seems like everything has some sort of seafood in it and they fail to mention that! I mean, I try..but, honestly, one taste of fishiness, and my dinner is usually ruined. I can't get that taste out of my mouth, and..it kinda makes me want to gag. Haha, sorry to those of you fish fans. :)

Anyway, oconomiyaki is actually kind of like a pancake, though not really. You order what you want and then it comes in a big bowl. On the bottom of the bowl is a pancake-type batter. Then all your toppings (I got pork, carrots, cheese, and corn) and an egg on top of all that. It looked like this:

Then, you mix it all up and pour it onto the grill thing, just like a pancake! You flatten it out and then let it cook for a few minutes:
After it has started to brown, you flip it...
Then, while it is cooking, you add some toppings. There is this brown sauce that kinda seems like bbq sauce, it was a little sweet. That's all I put on mine. However, there is seaweed, fish flakes, and mayo for those a bit more daring. I tried Sarah's with it all on there and it really wasn't too bad.
This was my finished product, and it was yummy!
So, I was pretty proud of myself that I actually liked a true Japanese dish. Baby steps, right?

Today was my first day observing in a classroom all day. I was in the room that will be my actual room come April. The kids were so stinkin' cute! I had a lot of fun with them. And, I honestly think I can do this job. And do it well for that matter. That's not to say it will not be challenging, but I really feel confident that I can be a good teacher to these kids. I got my class list today with all of my kids names on it. I will have 9 boys and 7 girls. I am so excited! I've started working on materials and stuff for my class. It's all starting to seem a little more real that I am going to be a real teacher. It is not, however, starting to seem more real that I live in Japan. I think I'm still in a state of shock or something..it doesn't even register in my mind yet. However, it does make me think about it when I get home from work at 5pm and want to call someone and realize that it is 2am back home. Guess it will just take some getting used to and some planning on my part.

1 week down..

I can't believe I have been in Japan for a week. At the same time, I can't believe I've only been in Japan a week! It went by so fast, but at the same time it seems like I left the States so long ago! I haven't blogged in a few days, so I will try to remember what I did on those days. Thursday, we went and opened our bank accounts and got medical insurance. So, I am now insured in Japan which is a good thing! Then I went to work for about two hours. I just was listening to the songs and trying to learn the chants and books that we will be using to teach. Thursday night Sarah and I made dinner. We went to the grocery store and decided we were going to make meat loaf. Um, I had never made meat loaf, and honestly hardly ever even eaten it! But, it actually turned out really good! We also made mashed potatoes, frozen vegetables, and s'mores! She made some kind of stuffed dumpling thing, I forget what it is called. It was actually pretty good.

Friday we had a meeting with our supervisors. Then I went and helped with a Valentines Day party. I got to spend some time in Sarah's class just hanging out with her kids. Some of those kids will be my kids soon! They are so cute! And they really can speak English after just one year, it's amazing! Friday night I went to dinner with Sarah and another girl, Anne. We went to a Japanese American restaurant. I got french toast. :)

Saturday we went on a tour of downtown. They showed us good places to buy bigger people clothes and shoes. Also, the import store where they have some things you can't get here. Of course they are super expensive! But, if you have a real craving..that's the place to go! At lunch I tried miso (spelling?) soup. It had seaweed in it, and tofu. But, it actually wasn't horrible. Maybe the food is growing on me...probably not! Yesterday was a long day. We were pretty much walking from 10am until we got back at like 6:30pm.

Saturday night, a couple of the girls made dinner for a bunch of us. Then we watched Mama Mia on the projector in the basement of the school. It was fun to get to hang out with all of the girls. I wish I hadn't been so tired though. It's hard to try to get to know a bunch of people in a huge group like that, at least for me. Also, I feel like some of these girls feel like they know me somewhat because of Sarah talking about me and stuff. So, sometimes it's like added pressure because they feel like they know me, or have a certain idea of what I am like, and then I just feel weird. The real me is shy, and I've been trying my best to not be, but sometimes it's just hard to open up to new people so much.

Overall, my first week in Japan was really good. I have been having some really bad jaw pain, so I am praying that it gets better and I don't have to go to another dentist over here. Other than that, life is great!