March 2011, Vacation, and MORE

I have made my decision: I am moving back to the States in March! It was a tough one to make but I do believe it is the right one. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience over here but I think America needs me, and I need her! So what's my next step? GRAD SCHOOL! Now I am on the hunt for what I will be doing when I move back!

Logan, Melanie, Ally, and I will be traveling in Europe for our Christmas Break. Our plans aren't set yet but we have our tickets to and from Germany!!! That is a start! So if you have suggestions on what was great to see in Germany, let me know. We also plan on going to Austria so that we could do the Sound of Music tour....definitely a must!

I go to the ocean tomorrow with my kids! We will wade in the water and hunt for seashells! It is going to be soo much fun! I am excited! My kids really are the cutest kids EVER! Then after tomorrow we have a 3 day weekend, class on Tuesday & Wednesday, a day off on Thursday and then class on Friday. So these next few days off will be spent w/ friends and filled with relaxation! It isn't even 9:00pm here and I am like falling asleep typing this!

So really what I am getting at is that these next few days are gonna be filled with excitement, awkwardness, and laughs! I will do my best to fill you in on what happens!

Well peace out my reader(s).

Field Day

Brief Update of The List:

My picture of the Day has been put on a hold. I will plan on jumping back into that in October!

I prob won't be snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef anytime this year because tickets for Australia are super expensive!

I am in the process of working on my trip to a different country. That will be settled tonight

Ok now for what this blog is all about: FIELD DAY!

Today was a fun day. Field Day consists of organized relays, dances, and activities for the entire family to enjoy. The kids have been practicing for this day for the past couple of weeks. They learned an exercise dance, a baton relay, a maypole, and a pom pom dance. These past couple of weeks have been filled w/ much stress and frustration but we somehow got through. TODAY WAS WONDERFUL! My class did soo good! My kids won the K5 Relay! We got 1st Place! They were so excited. My class also won the mother's relay as well. The moms of my kids stood in a line and past a hula hoop from the front to the back then back to the front again! We had fun. All the parents of my kids are very competitive so they worked hard in every event!

The teachers and parents also ran a baton relay. Us teachers won!!! It was great! Well I didn't have much time for this post but I had to get this weekly one in. I hope this one works. Next week will be better, I promise!

Oh, and lately I have become addicted to Army Wives! I cry at every episode but it is just a beautiful show!

4 Miles

I just completed week 3 of my 10K training. I ran 4 miles tonight! This is the longest/farthest that I have ever ran in my entire life. I have never been a runner so I would say that this is a good accomplishment for myself. Let's also take into consideration that my left foot is retarded... I feel very good about my run tonight!

I think one thing that kept my feet moving throughout these 4 miles were my thoughts. I have had a lot on my mind lately and tonight I was able to use those thoughts as my fuel to run. Here are my thoughts:

1. In a month and a half I tell my boss if I will be signing on for another school year at MeySen or not. This would mean that I would commit to another year & a half in Japan. So my move home date would then be in March of 2012. What should I do? Should I stay or should I go? March 2011 or March 2012?? I just don't know right now. Ginger, oh wise one, what should I do?

2. Logan, Melanie, Ally, and I are planning a trip for Christmas this year. We have about 2 weeks off from work so we thought it would be fun to go somewhere together. Our first choice was Australia. We looked at tickets.....too dang expensive! Alright, 2nd choice (which now is our 1st choice) the Philippines. We got our plan figured out, found tickets at a decent price but when pushed to book the flight the dang website kept saying that it couldn't make our request....LAME! Needless to say, we all got very frustrated!!! Why is it soo complicated and sooo dang expensive to travel ANYWHERE! So we decided that because of our frustration that this week we would look at tickets and places to go because, WE ARE NOT STAYING IN JAPAN FOR CHRISTMAS! Europe is now in the cards. Next Sunday we are getting together to for sure book our flights. Wish us luck!

So that is what made my 4 mile run such a success tonight! I think for the day of my race, October 10th, I will have to make sure that I will have some built up frustration so that I will have the motivation to keep on keepin on! ha I just wanted to say that phrase... Thank you Joe Dirt!

I finished Never Let Me Go. In my last post I bashed it. It wasn't that bad when I finished it, but I wouldn't ever recommend it to anyone. The whole time I was reading it I just felt like I had to read it even though I didn't want to. They are making a movie about it and I will probably watch it. I wouldn't be shocked if I liked the movie, but I still don't really see the point of the book. I started book #3, My Sister's Keeper. I've read 1 chapter and I like it already!

"Never Let Me Go"... more like Never Let Me Read AGAIN!

13. Read 25 Books

Since my birthday I have only read 1 book, Memoirs of a Geisha. I really enjoyed the book and I strongly recommend it. I think that I might have enjoyed it more since I actually live in Japan. If I were to read it prior to living here I think I still would have enjoyed though. It was neat to compare it to present day Japan.

Right now I am reading Never Let Me Go. I don't like it at all. I'm about half way through and I really couldn't even tell you what is happening. I don't know. It doesn't intrigue me at all. I will finish it though!

I do need to jump the gun though and start reading more because I have a lot of books to read this year!!!

Also #12 on my list is stay off facebook for an entire month. This will start September 1st. So people, if you want to contact me, you need to do it in other ways besides facebook. I have a couple more days to go though!

Family, Friends, & a Sunburn!

Right now I am sitting in the Albuquerque Airport. I am Dallas bound and I am so excited to go hang out with Shelby! I talked to her the other day and she said that she was getting our little weekend planned out. These plans will include pedicures, afternoon movies, cupcakes from sprinkles, shopping, a Bridget Jones' Diary marathon so that we can relate and complain about our singleness, and a bunch of other girly/fun things! While I am in Dallas I will also be meeting up with a few other of my really good friends that I haven't seen in a year or so!

It has been so good to see everyone! Clay and Kristen's wedding was absolutely beautiful! They are such a beautiful couple! Kristen looked absolutely gorgeous. Because of this wedding I got to see people that I haven't seen in a long time. Hey Ginger! It was fun to be with all these wonderful faces again! After the wedding I went to Sedona with my family. I got really sunburned...this is the first time I have ever had it this bad I think!

Well I am about to board my plane so I can't really express all the joy that I have endured this past week because I don't have time. But I am off to Dallas to continue my vacation! I really don't want to fly back on Monday...

Update!

Well I am now back in The States!!! I am now in Flagstaff, Arizona. Today is Clay & Kristen's wedding!

But first, let me tell you about this past week.

Kyoto was awesome! Karen, Brissa, and I left for Kyoto on Friday, the 6th. We go there successfully and found our Hostel with success as well! After arriving in Kyoto Station, we had quite the little trek to our Hostel. It wasn't bad, but when you have your bags on your shoulders and when you are sweating like a PIG it makes it a little bit more complicated. Our Hostel was sweet though! We had a private room with our own kitchen and bathroom in it. Our beds were Japanese style Futons. So every night we had to unfold our beds out and every morning we had to fold them back up. These beds were so comfortable though! We did many things while in Kyoto, here are a 10 of the highlights:

1. Went to Nara to see the biggest Buddha in the world.

2. Nara-petted the deer that were everywhere

3. Nara- crawled through a hole that is equivalent to the size of Buddha's nostril. You do this for good fortune.

4. Got lost.

5. Mastered the subway system.

6. Met 3 guys who loved hanging out with us. Tasuku, Yoshitaka, and Yasu

7. Ate Indian food like every day.

8. Ate sushi... I don't really like anything from the water.

9. Wandered through the Red Light District (by accident) one night.

10. Saw a Geisha.

We had so much fun in Kyoto. There are many many stories still to be told but I can't tell all of them on here. If you want to know more, just ask!

On Wednesday we took our trek back to Kyoto Station with all of our luggage again. This time, it was much hotter and WAY MORE humid! We boarded our train to Tokyo for the next leg of our trip. We arrived in Tokyo at Tokyo Station. I don't think I have ever seen so many people in one place at one time! It was ridiculous! The directions to our Hostel this time were much more clear and the walk to it was much shorter as well. After checking in, we decided to go find something to eat. So we are walking the streets around where we are staying and guess what type of restaurant we stumbled upon....INDIAN! Did I mention that we have pretty much had Indian food every day? I don't think I can ever get enough of it. So naturally, we didn't want to break the tradition so we ate there. After lunch we decided to go check out Shibuya and Roppongi. SO MANY PEOPLE! When we were in Shibuya, there was a street corner that was packed w/ people so we had to go check it out. As we got closer, we noticed a stage w/ a man on a mic giving some sort of directions and such. We decided to stick around to see what was going on. It was the live performance of the Korean pop group KARA. It was the debut of their new single. It was so loud and crowded, it was ridiculous! I wish that you could have experienced it with us. They were like the Korean Spice Girls basically. The next day, I had to leave Karen and Brissa. It was sad to leave them because we had so much fun!

Well right now, I am going to eat some breakfast, get my hair cut, then start preparing for one of the coolest weddings ever! It's good to be back in the States! CONGRATS Clay & Kristen!

Vacation Time!

TODAY IS MY FIRST REAL DAY OF SUMMER VACATION!

I have had a very busy past few weeks with Summer Camp and Summer School. My kids have worn me out! So this time off is much needed!

Karen and Brissa got here on Monday!!! Monday night I went to Sendai Station to pick them up. They flew into the Narita Airport in Tokyo then took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Sendai. Prior to them leaving the States, I talked to Karen on the phone trying to give her the most descriptive help possible. On the day of their arrival I had to work so when I got off, I went to Sendai Station and sat out in front of the Central Exit waiting for them to come. I was a little worried at first because I hadn't heard from them at all, but then at about 7:20 ish I saw them!

It has been very fun w/ them here! Tuesday they came to my school and saw my class. My kids absolutely loved them! They played w/ us the majority of the day but after lunch they decided to go home to take a nap for a bit since they were tired. My kids kept asking me where they went though! It was fun to have them at school!

On Tuesday I still had to work...but Karen and Brissa went to Downtown Sendai to shop around! I had showed them how to use the public transportation the night before when we went out for dinner and gave them a list of stores that they should go and see. Then, that night, we went to my friend Hiroe's house and had a BBQ with her family. It was soo much fun! Her house is absolutely beautiful! We ate outside on her terrace then we did some fireworks! Takeshi's parents came over too and his Dad asked us "Why are Americans so cute?" (in Japanese) Brissa then replied with, "Because we just are!" haha needless to say we had a fun night!

Yesterday I STILL had to work...but Karen, Brissa, and Hiroe went to Matsushima! I was really sad that I couldn't go with because they had soo much fun! When I got off work we were going to go eat at Kame House! IT WAS CLOSED!!! It was so sad when we drove up to it and saw that it was closed for some strange reason... so instead we went and at Okonomiyaki. It was very good and I'm glad that Karen and Brissa got to try it. We went Downtown later that night to take Melanie to the Station so she could catch her bus to the airport. We decided to stay there for a bit because the Tanabata Festival was going on, but right when we got there it ended. However, there were still tons of people there and funny things to observe. We also were given free gyoza so I would say the night was good!

Its 5:37 am in the morning right now and I'm about to finish packing for KYOTO! We are taking the Shinkansen to Kyoto today and will stay there till the 11th! I am so excited to go with Karen and Brissa! We are going to have soo much fun! Then on Thursday we will head down to Tokyo. I will fly to the States on the 12th and they will stay in Tokyo till the 18th! I have really enjoyed them being here! We have had fun! Well I need to finish packing!!!