School Festival

Insect count: a blessed 0!

T5B: 1) I was able to find a new bus on my own when mine didn't show up this morning. 2) Someone left me two tickets (as a present) on my desk. 3) Lots of students talked to me today. 4) Shinoki-s left me a sweet gift on my door. 5) I found a GIANT Daiso!

basal temp: 36.38 what does it MEAN!?

Today I woke up early thanks to my cramps. I had to dash to the bathroom but I had an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off so I got back in bed. I slowed my breathing but I didn't get back to sleep. :/ So I got up, showered, and got ready. I had all kinds of extra time so I picked up some and I changed Donut's water. I was at the bus stop 5 minutes early but my bus never showed! Well, I waited 15 minutes (so 10 minutes after it was supposed to show up) and then went to the bus center and asked about another bus. Since I had gone to Wano that one day I asked for a bus that would get THERE. I got on the wrong bus at first, but the driver and the lady who followed me out (lol) told me to wait for the next bus. It meant that I had to walk and arrived at the school later than I expected, but I made it. Luckily I had not committed to a time to show up, so I think it's ok I showed up when I did (10:40). Sato-s (fukucoucho-sensei/vice principal) saw me and told me that there was a present on my desk. Since I had a ticket for a tea ceremony, I did that first. It was pretty cool. :) Then I went up to my desk. I found a ticket for a tea ceremony (lol) and a lunch ticket for kare-raisu (curry). I don't know who bought them but I thought that was very sweet. On the note that said, "Present for Ann," I wrote thank you and I appreciate it in hiragana. :) I hope they see it. In the office I found Hashimoto-sensei. Ok, so over the summer Kanamori-s's aunt passed away, Kawai-s's grandfather passed away recently, Hashimoto-s lost two aunts, Hashimoto-s's father is in and out of the hospital because of renal failure. Tragedies seem to be abounding. Then today Hashimoto-s informed me that he is entering the hospital for a few weeks. :c I don't know what's wrong, but I am wishing him the best. He will enter the hospital this coming Friday. So he told me about how next week would go and also the week after that. Saraishuu (the week after next) there are exams. I have my compensatory day off that Wednesday (for working today) Spet 11 and then there is testing Mon, Tues, and Thurs. It turns out the school is closed on Wednesday so that's how they picked that day to give me off. Turns out that the teachers were told by the principal during the week of exams that they can leave after 1300. Hashimoto-s said to me, "I don't know if that applies to you." I hope it does! Since I will not have any lessons to teach and once I finish my prep for the following week I will have nothing to do. I have the 20th off as CS doesn't need me that day. (Their school festival is in October so I asked Sugita-s to call Interac and tell them they were giving me the 20th off because they wanted me to come on Oct 26th ~a Saturday~ for their school festival. Hopefully that flies!) Also I found out yesterday that I am only teaching one class at CS this coming week. They are going to schedule it for the morning so I may end up leaving after lunch. Also my lesson I'm teaching there? ASL to my jhs kids. YATTA!!! Sorry back to what I was saying - before I saw Hashimoto-s I remembered how I had the incorrect pages for my lesson on Monday. So I photocopied the correct ones and will be doing some more work once I finish typing this. Sheesh was a stressful day. And poor Hashimoto-s. :<

After that I wandered around the school and saw some exhibits and bought two little things from the PTA's sale. Pictures below and video of what I saw and bought. I continued to wander the school and ran into the math teacher who always takes time to talk to me. :) He's very kind. He offered to show me where the food was as I was about ready to have my lunch (after I bought something from his homeroom class ~ peach "sherbet" ~really a snocone). He walked me there and then disappeared. I figured he went back to his booth. So I sat down next to Hashimoto-s who happened to be there. Then Nakata-s and Fujieda-s joined us. Then a little bit later I saw that the math teacher was sitting across from me at the table next to us. Then I felt really badly. He probably went to buy a ticket and I ditched him. :/ I didn't do it on purpose! So I chatted with him a bit about Las Vegas (he's been there). I bought cheesecake but was too full to eat it. I asked one of the boys, K, helping who is in my 2.6 class for a box. They didn't have one, but the math teacher (I should learn his name) said he would grab me one and he did. I thought that was very kind of him. :) After lunch we walked down the hall a ways and I said I was going outside and he said he was going to the gym (where there were various performances). I trolled around outside for a bit, bought another drink (really it was more like - the students who approached me and asked me to buy from their class, I did). I'm not sure for what they were all raising money but it's like a school carnival on steroids! (Well compared to the US) I saw those two boys, S & D, who love ASL. They wanted me to buy something from them but I didn't know what it was and at that point I was violently nauseous. (I had eaten what I told you - a snocone, curry, and another drink - but my cramps make me extremely nauseous.) I still feel guilty I didn't buy from them. I should have bought something and just stuck it in my bag. Sheesh I feel so badly I feel like crying. IS MY PERIOD OVER YET!? When I went back inside since I had been unsuccessful in offering my second tea ceremony ticket to anyone, I went to another tea ceremony. Kanamori-s was VERY touched. "Ann-sensei! You are back again! I am so glad! You love tea ceremonies! Why don't you join tea ceremony club? You come to Japan and learn Japanese culture!" She was very sweet and I'm glad I was able to make her day. :) I can do no wrong with her it seems and I'm so glad that she likes me so well. 

After wandering outside I went into the gym to see what was going on. I was just in time for the play to start. I sat through an hour of I have NO IDEA what. There was a lot of yelling so I'm assuming it was a drama. I understood maybe 10 words in the whole hour I was there. I saw the math teacher afterwards outside and he told me he left halfway through because it was boring. AHAHAHAHA! After the lights I turned to the girls sitting near me (some second years as I didn't recognize them) and said, "Zenbu wakarimasen!" (I didn't understand the whole thing ~ I think that's what I said. That's what I MEANT to say.) They laughed at me. After that I wandered around some more and saw that everyone was starting to pack up. So I went to my desk and worked on that lesson now that I had the pages. (Now I just have to type it up.) Nakata-s came by and gave me a candle that smells like fur trees (it has Christmas trees on the side). Thanks! ... It was very kind of her. Then I helped a student from 3.1 clean up the teacher's room. After all that it occurred to me I forgot to go get my craft from the PTA. :c They were gone by the time I got there. Aww :C I hope I can get it later. I then did some more work and just kept myself busy until it was time to go. Then off I went (my bus was coming at 1646).

The bus was late, grr, but I finally got back to my neighborhood. I needed to go to the bank since I needed money for groceries. Ya, the bank was closed. 16 minutes before I arrived. I wanted to cry. I stopped by the Daiso on the way home (I had seen the sign from the bus). It was HUGE. I'm so glad I found it. I needed blank cds for the listening exams coming up. I told the teachers I would figure out a way to record and burn me speaking so all they would need is a cd. I would go personally but some tests are simultaneous. :/ If it comes to that, we could stagger them I'm sure. Anyway, I also needed to grab some groceries for tomorrow. I was only able to get what I absolutely needed as I only had $10 on me. I was so stressed out. If I want to eat next week, I have to go to the bank tomorrow. :,< I don't want to break the Sabbath. I don't know what else to do. I go to work before the bank opens and get home after it's closed. There's a reason I need my Saturdays. I kind of want to email the office and ask, "So what do I do about grocery money since I didn't get to go to the bank?" However I'm sure they'll tell me, "Go Sunday!" :,( I'll figure out what to do tomorrow. Right now I keep fighting the urge to cry. By the time I got home I was exhausted, super nauseous, super discouraged, and still in so much pain. However, I came home to a gift from Shinoki-s. I thought that it was very sweet of her to leave me something. She left two little wheat/bran bagels and some hipster glasses. ... Wait til you see them. I would take a picture now but I feel like I look really gross so sorry, later. It helped to lift my spirits. (I still feel like crying though just from being ON all day and being in so much pain and just needing ME time.)

I ate some dinner and then watched two episodes (20 mins/apiece) of Darker Than Black. My place is filthy and needs to be cleaned. I WANT to clean it (that's a good sign), but we will see what happens. I have several other things to do first. *sigh* This is why we HAVE Saturdays. It's the day we get ready for Sunday! Errybody who speaks English and was in Primary knows that! ;) But seriously, I am feeling woefully unprepared for tomorrow. I've decided to take my chance with getting a ride (mostly since I totally forgot to think about it until now). If I end up walking home, it will suck, but oh well. It is what it is. All I can do it my best and this weekend (thanks to my period and my extended schedule) it's just not much. :/ Give me a rest, literally, people! That's supposed to be one of the perks of being a teacher - having your weekends free (theoretically). Sorry, I'm done complaining. It was fun to see my students and show support. I just wish I had a car so I had been able to get my errands done. :/ Oh well. Hope you all have a great weekend. XOXO, A

Some crazy stats: I have made 92 worksheets thus far. I have been in Japan for 163 days.

Video section: (missing: liquid Nitrogen bouncy ball - it's too big for here so it's on fb :D)
(Sorry, deleted)
Video 5: Donut!

Today - 100% chance of rain!? I'll take it!!

This is the pavement that my chin took on at the beginning of June

I REALLY wanted to buy this - it's stoneware. However, seeing as it's stoneware AND I don't drink sake... it seemed like too heavy and not useful to me. And I didn't just want it because it was only $5 ... well, maybe that was part of it. :/

something I bought for $.10 ~big spender I know

Epic and painful day

Insect count: only dead ones I saw around the school! Yay?

T5B: 1) My Deaf kids were SO great (as usual). 2) My elementary kids didn't want me to leave :,). 3) I was able to find a drugstore near my house and get some things. 4) I stopped by the bank on the way home (doesn't sound like much but considering I needed money for tomorrow and it felt like I was dying - HUGE accomplishment!) 5) I finished my power point before the lesson in which I needed it.

basal temp: finally a repeat: 36.48

Today started out a little frustratingly. I awoke to rain (YAY!) at around 4 am. And then an hour later I was still awake. What the heck body!? I fell asleep a half hour before my alarm went off (round 5:50 am). *sigh* The problem? Cramps. I was in so much pain I couldn't sleep. I took some tylenol. Ya, that didn't help this time. :/ I couldn't even THINK about doing my combination scripture reading and stretching this morning. Plus the fact that I shuffle around like an elderly person because of the pain... I ended up doing my religious studyings on the bus. I'm ok with that - but I was in AGONY on the bus. It took me FOREVER to read. I kept having to reread and I remember the gist of what I read but that's about it. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. So yes, I got ready, and took the bus. Because of my non ability to think I took the long way to the bus station :/ but I still made it with a minute to spare, thank goodness. I already told you about the bus ride. The hike up to the school was slow torture but I eventually made it! And ironically though my basal temp has been lower, I've been overheating all day. (It was way more humid today too because of the rain... but still...)

I taught a lesson on pronouns (subject, object, and possessive) to my hs kids and then we played thimbleful. Huge success IMO! :D One boy wouldn't participate in any of class, but that's ok. I'm glad he wasn't throwing desks. :D Then after that class I went back to my desk and essentially sat in nausea and intense pain trying to gather my thoughts. Finally I remembered the powerpoint I needed to make and got on that. I didn't finish it before my next class, but the next class was elem and I needed it for jhs. So off I went to teach my elem kids. One girl was absent :/ but the lesson went super well. I brought fruit snacks (since this is the third lesson on "What's this?") and had them taste test and tell me what they were. Bonus: the fruit snacks were from the US. :) They loved it. We did some other things as well. We were playing a towel game when it came time for me to leave. I-c ran over and changed their schedule board to put English next again. SUCCESS! (They say your goal in elem school is to make sure they have fun/love English. Mission accomplished!) But seriously, it really touched me. :) After that I went back to my desk and finished that power point. (By the way Kawai-s was gone for her grandfather's funeral. :() After I finished that I went to finish my worksheets for Monday and found out I brought the wrong material home from MM. Awesome. Argh! That means I have to JET to make it Monday morning as I need it for my first period. Eep. :/ I felt like crying (my period helped me feel like that), but what can I do? So I pushed it out of my mind. Soon it was time for me to teach again anyway.

The jhs class went really well. I taught them about ordering food. It was really fun. Unfortunately we didn't get to thimbleful. :/ That's ok.

I supposedly had some time before my bus but I didn't. I just was in so much pain I zoned out while trying to distract myself. I almost missed my bus! But I didn't, so yay. After I got off the bus, I went to the bank (since I need money for tomorrow and I need to buy another bus card soon). That was a huge accomplishment and right across from the bank there was a drugstore. I wanted some vitamins and contact solution so off I went. The lady was SUPER helpful. :) I used my translator because I just didn't know how to say certain things. But, success! Well, they didn't have one thing for which I was searching, but everything else was there! :D I stopped at the bakery on the way home and got what I THOUGHT was a fresh ham and cheese sammich. Ya no, that was mayo. Dang you Japan! I guess they don't do ham and cheese. :( That's the second time they've gotten me with that trick. Shame on me. (But also shame on them!) When I got home I ate that roll (after I scraped out all the mayo) and another roll I bought. It's made me feel even MORE nauseous. :( *sigh* Oh well. I don't have anymore stomach medicine and can only do my best. :/ Right now I have to keep repositioning every few minutes. You know, I've had cramps everyday for almost a month and these are even worse than what I had before. I was in a pain but this is excruciating. :,c I wish there was some sort of answer. I hope the doctor has one. I'm afraid he'll be like, "Well you're on par for endometriosis." No duh! HELP ME. PLEASE. :c In any case, I don't know why my uterus is so mad at me but I wish it would stop. :/ I'm pretty sure I don't deserve THIS level of rage. Especially since this is my second period this month. Come on life!

I've typed this up now. I will watch some Darker Than Black and then get some sleep for tomorrow. Since I have to work I am hoping against hope that my cramps have or will let up. Oh - I also did laundry. :) Have a happy Friday! XOXO, A

the forecast - looking good! (although Sunday has already gone up to 29, dang it!) - oh it starts with Saturday (土曜日)

hehe You You Bon Bon - I think it's a gambling hall but the name makes me laugh

a salad M made - it was SO good

vitamins and iodine (and my leg)

LOOOOONG day

Insect count: one big spider but luckily it was at the bus stop and not my place - it startled me but I survived!

T5B: 1) This week is almost over. 2) I made it through today. 3) I got a lot done in spite of apathy and pain. 4) I got my work done at home relatively quickly. 5) I had some dark chocolate at my place.

basal temp: 36.48 (0.o Here I was thinking "That's more like it! I'm getting back to normal - but nooooo.)

I forgot to mention that yesterday while I was at work I found out I had cut my other thumb as well. The little flap of skin kept catching on everything so I pulled out my clippers and took it off. For some reason my thumb took that as permission to bleed. So I got a bandaid from a teacher to wear until the bleeding stopped. My students kept laughing at me. That's ok.

Today started with what I said above ^ - me thinking I was back on track. I got ready, went to school, and had a small surprise. Cleaning time in the morning! So I helped the students and then got to work. I blasted through 3 worksheets and made 1/2 a powerpoint in 2-2.5 hours. Then apathy set in. I was tired and frustrated and wanted to stop working. Unfortunately the 3 worksheets I had made were for next week and I still needed the three for tomorrow. (I was planning on getting EVERYTHING done and those were already sketched out so I made them first.) I was pretty frustrated how shaky I was and how frustrated and apathetic I was feeling. I wanted to yell, "Screw you all!" and then go home and sleep for a week. I was pretty freaked out at my emotions and thinking, "I'm going to have to flog myself to finish again." I escaped to the bathroom to use it and also to sit quietly, alone for a few minutes. It helped me recharge a little and I made a discovery. My period started. Well that explains the emotion - I can't say pain since I have had cramps EVERY SINGLE DAY save one since July 28th. I can be grateful, and am, however that I did not have any emotional outbursts BEFORE it started. That's what I usually experience. (Emotional outbursts and general hormonalness the week before and then abject misery because of the huge amounts of pain during the week of.) Kanamori-s gave me laugh though. Before I went to the bathroom she caught me at the desk and sold me an advance ticket for a tea ceremony (I'm glad she dropped by or I wouldn't have known to bring money to the school festival). She told me, "Please come in the morning. We ordered many sweets but I am afraid the sweets will be out of order in the afternoon." LOL I know what she meant, and I kept a straight face when she said it, but yay for Engrish. Just a funny mental picture.

After I went back to my desk, I banged out two more worksheets and a plan for my elementary school kids (I'm as excited as my period will allow for tomorrow). I also found the materials I would need and then my laptop battery died. I then was frustrated for another reason. I had blocked out my worksheets ahead of time (including dialogues and sentences) so I could get everything done before the battery died but no such luck. So there I was at school with 2 hours to kill, work I needed to finish, and the prospect of having to work when I got home. I already needed to do dishes and it was just overwhelming to think I had to work as well. But it was what it was. Then we had a second cleaning time, I bugged a couple teachers to get my SLP as I STILL didn't have it for next week. I have a couple lessons on Monday for which I'm not ready due to change of plans, but I will work on them tomorrow. I also need to finish my powerpoint for 5th period tomorrow but seeing as I am only teaching 1st and 3rd before that, I will make it on the breaks. (Oh sheesh - during the day Tsukasa sent me the wrong SLP and I started to PANIC. I was being given 7 new lessons for Tuesday which confused me and then I realized it wasn't my school and sure enough, "Sorry! Disregard that SLP!" Yeesh.) Oh and one other update: remember how I had my trash privileges revoked before? Well I was given a trash can of my own and was so excited but today Nakata-s (who sits a desk away from me) took my trash away! Well, she grabbed it and put it RIGHT by her. So she had one on either side of her. ... I'm assuming she forgot she had one on the other side of her, lol. Can you imagine being so selfish about trash cans? LOL In any case, I have to get up to reach it. Oh well. One other piece of "news." I sneezed and coughed at the same time and Kanamori-s came over to my desk, "Are you ok!?" LOL She's a very sweet lady. I assured her I was.

The bus ride home was stressful and discouraging. The traffic was very slow and I got home 20 minutes later than I usually do. But I told myself again, "It is what it is" and turned on my MP3 player and walked home. At home I kept the player with me and washed dishes as quickly as possible and then got to my work. I was pretty hungry but I knew if I sat down with my dinner first I would talk myself out of finishing my work and my lesson tomorrow wouldn't go as well. (I tried to talk myself out of it anyway, but then flogged myself forward and just did it.) I was happy to finish and quickly made some dinner. As I said above, I'm not completely done, but everything that needed to be printed was so YAY. The lesson could be better, but I just don't have the energy or willpower to pour into it. It's not bad, but it's not the breakfast of champions I usually bring to class. :/ After that I watched an episode of Madoka as I ate dinner and then now I am writing this. I hope you all have a less stressful Thursday. I been spending the rest of the night in tears over various things. :/ Hopefully my cramps go away! Love you all! XOXO, Ann

my right thumb (last night)

the cut is a little harder to see on this one, sorry - left thumb

the ramen peanuts to which I am addicted - they're SO good!

on my period but still lookin fabulous (welcome to a Japanese bathroom!)

More accomplishment

Insect count: a small flying bug (I'm looking forward to when I will no longer worry about this!)

T5B: 1) I, again, got a TON done. 2) All my classes went SUPER well today! 3) I got to msg my BFF today. 4) I actually needed a blanket last night! YATTA! It's getting cold again! YEEHAW!! 5) I got some planning done for the 7 worksheets I needed to create tomorrow.

Basal temp: 36.71 (I have yet to have the same number twice - pretty close today though!)

As I said, my day started out pretty well because the cold is coming on! :D (Actually Mr. Suzuki told me that though it was a hotter summer, it has cooled off a LOT sooner than it usually does. It's usually still pretty hot through the first couple weeks of September. I'm so blessed!) I awoke an hour and a half before my alarm went off, but I was able to fall back asleep (mmm) and then woke up 7 minutes early. That gave me time to take my temperature and to think before I got up. I got up and got ready and though I felt distracted, I had a few minutes to pick up a little before I left again. I walked to the bus stop, took the bus, the ride was pleasant (I read uplifting stories on the interwebz), and I got to school one minute after the meeting started. I sat on the side, then moved to my desk when the main meeting was over and then got materials ready for my lessons today. I was a little apprehensive for my 2.6 (sports) class since my lesson was about festivals and I was leading with Bastille Day. But I put my pictures I found and printed in sheet protectors and decided everything would go well. (I was so nervous about seeing them I counted how many times I still have to teach them. :/) Then off I went to teach first period.

It's ironic, since I was teaching a new lesson I maybe should have stressed about that, if I was going to stress about anything (though I guess they're both new lessons), but I wasn't worried at all. I had a strong worksheet and I was working with Hashimoto-sensei. The class went very smoothly and the timing was perfect. (We had forty minute classes today so I skipped an opener ~ actually I forgot :/) I left with 80 worksheets to correct but got through them before my next class (third period). One girl, lol, wrote in her "good news" column, "I bought money!" :D I hope she got a good deal on it!

My next class was my sports class. I had a mini heart attack as I remembered I needed one more thing for my lesson. I dashed to the teachers'... I guess it's a small kitchen area - I'll try to get a picture of it later. In any case, in there I grabbed six caps out of the cap bag (trash) and one plastic bottle out of the plastic bottle trash can (yes they are THAT fastidious in Japan about their trash). I washed them well with dish soap and dried them. I then put some water in the bottle, capped it with one of the caps, and went back to my desk. I then wrote some colors on slips of paper so we could play thimbleful. I then gathered the other materials I needed and off we were to teach 2.6. The game (thank you Maman for the idea!) went SO well. Oh man, they LOVED it. :D!!! Then they all settled down and they LISTENED when I taught. This is the FIRST time I have had silence in that classroom. EVER. The first section was FIB (fill in the blank) and most of them did it! I was crazy happy. Then they all did the section where they had to write about a matsuri (festival) in Japan, save one boy. Still, I walked out GLOWING. The whole lesson went incredibly well! I'm SO thankful and feel SO blessed. It made me feel bad that I had counted how many Wednesdays I had left. I then had a class period to work on correcting their worksheets (37) and be starving. Sheesh. Even with the shortened schedule my hands were trembling again by 10 am. DANG IT. :/

Finally it was lunch time! And the earliest we've ever had it too (1210). I ate up and then finished correctly worksheets. Then I went to teach 5th period with Mr. Suzuki. The lesson went SUPER well and then I made a fool of myself, LOL. I ended the class, thinking it was over. Ya, I ended it 9 minutes early. AHAHAHAHA! Mr. Suzuki, thinking I was stuck started telling the students their educational schedule (who they would have when) and told them to write it, there was much mirth. Pretty funny. I, in the meantime, set up for Scattergories and we played that. :) Pretty funny. (That reminds me of another funny story from yesterday that I forgot to write up. Ever since visiting the boxing club, they get very excited when they see me and waved and yell hello during their laps around the school (they pass me as I'm waiting for the bus).  Well it seems that M, who is in my 1.6 class and has two girlfriends, may be taking some teasing about liking me. He likes to practice English with me. So as they were going by me, one of his teammates tried to shove him right into me. I reacted quickly and stepped back, "Whoa!" Ya, he missed. :) Reflexes! LOL)

After that I taught that same first lesson with Hashimoto-s for 6th period. This class is SO bright. I love teaching them. They are RIGHT with me and SO eager to learn English - they have, as Mr. Hashimoto pointed out, a wonderful classroom culture. Even with all his talking, we were done early so we played Scattergories. It was great fun! :) Then I went back to my desk (after class) with 114 more worksheets waiting for me. (That brings my total up to ... 721 in three days! Wonder how long that record will stand? I have nothing to correct tomorrow and no classes to teach.) I found out that the reason we had 40 minute class periods is that we had a 40 minute intense cleaning period in prep for the school festival. So I got involved with that with the students. We did the trashes, as usual. Wednesdays are usually deeper cleaning anyway and we will vacuum. So we vacuumed and then we did windows (new), and dusted (new). It took us about 30-35 minutes. It was fun to work with the students even though it was dirty (haha) work. But seriously, I was happy to help. :) After cleaning time I asked 3 third graders their names and am planning on remembering them. :) I really would like to know all their names.. :/ We'll see what happens. After that I had about 35-40 minutes until it was time for me to leave the school. I was BEAT. It was stressful to THINK about working. Instead I made a list of the lessons (worksheets) I needed to make tomorrow (since I have the whole day to plan) and then was dead-set on vegging until it was time to go. I vegged for a while but then I guess I recharged enough, or my conscious bothered me enough, that I decided to brainstorm. So I sketched out ideas for two worksheets. Both worksheets were ones I need for next week, but I couldn't approach the ones for Friday yet because I would need the net and though I can use it on my phone, I decided to wait until tomorrow when I have my laptop so it LOOKS more like I'm working. (I'm working when I'm on my phone as well - but I don't want them to think I'm NOT.)

Then off I went to go home. The bus ride home was good but like the ride there, insanely short. That's what reading does! Then I got to msg my BFF and made myself some dinner and ate (stew, lots of water, later some dry ramen and peanuts snack that is INCREDIBLE, and a dark chocolate almond ice cream bar for dessert. ~That's one serving size that is smaller. Their ice cream bars are TINY. Still, it was very good/satisfying). I then REALLY vegged out to Darker Than Black. Before I knew it, it was late and I had only eaten and watched that show! Still, if my mind needs it, I'm happy to give it what it needs so it will function well. ~Oh I got a call yesterday at the school about a question I asked Interac. It appears you don't need an appointment for ANYTHING in Japan! I will run out of contacts next month (last pair next month), so I called about help getting an appt with the eye doctor. Just as the GP and the Gyno, no appointments. First come, first served. Luckily this place is two blocks from my apartment. The prices are fairly high, but hey I need to be able to see! So I will be doing that on my day off next month: Wednesday Sept 11. Hope you're all doing fabulously well! Happy hump day! XOXO, A

A funny I copied from my Parisian friend

All in two days' work

Insect count: one small flying bug

T5B: 1) Tutoring was awesome tonight! 2) I was able to swing by the grocery store on the way home. 3) My classes went very well. 4) I got a great picture of something a student wrote on his paper. :D 5) I got a TON of work done.

Basal temp: 36.72

So first, I forgot a story from last Thursday. I wrote a note for Oikawa-s asking what he wanted me to prepare for Monday for 3.7. I wrote the note in English then at the bottom wrote "arigatou gozaimasu" in hiragana (ありがとうございます). He lavishly praised me for that. He said, "Wow! You write BEAUTIFUL hiragana characters! Very good!" (And he clapped.) :D

This morning was ok. I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm went off and I was sort of freaked out last night so all in all I didn't sleep as much as I should have. Still, I was able to get my basal temperature and relax a little before my alarm went off. Then I got up and got ready and got out the door. I ate the same breakfast that I did yesterday. It did not, however, work the same. I spent the morning grading papers. In fact, I did the math; the last two days I graded 492 papers. 0.o That being said, even though I was busy and I had had a good breakfast, by the time third period rolled around and it was time for me to teach, my hands were trembling. Maybe it was also nerves. (But I didn't FEEL like I was nervous.)

That class went very well. I played them my ten favorite songs on my phone as a warm-up and then we did the assignment. (All the while my hands progressed from trembling to shaking.) Then it was straight to fourth period (well there's a ten minute break, but I mean I taught two classes in a row). This class is comprised of university-bound students. They are a wonderful class. They're very funny (this is the class where a kid called from the audience, while his classmate was presenting, "Big voice please!" lol) I started that class with a game. It was really fun. Then we had the same lesson as the other class.

After that - na na nA NA!!!! Lunch time! :D I ate because I needed it! After I ate I started grading the worksheets they had turned in. As I was doing this, Oikawa-s started to write something on the "schedule change" board. I recognized enough kanji to see we would have 40 minute classes. I figured it was tomorrow and was going to ask, but he approached me saying, "Ann-sensei! Tomorrow we have 40 second .." at this point he burst into laughter, lol. "No 40 MINUTE classes tomorrow." So I checked, "So first period would be 900-940, second would be 950-1030, like that?" "Yes, yes!" I finished my grading and then taught my last class of the day during 6th period. This class had missed the music part of the music lesson. So we started with 39 songs of various genres. :) They were very attentive and I was touched that they were so (not every class listened quietly and respectfully).

Then I got back to correcting worksheets. That's when I came across this:

I thought it was very sweet. And I am sure he didn't mean it the way it COULD sound in English. ("What's different about me? I actually LIKE Ann. lol - I was really very touched. Enough that I snuck the paper out so I could get a picture of it for you - and me.) After I finished that, I worked on the test that I was asked to write. In the meantime, Hashimoto-s said, "Ann, did you notice.." *starts to point to the schedule board. "That we have 40 minute class periods tomorrow?" "Oh wow! You learned a LOT of kanji!" lol "Yes and also Oikawa-s told me." :D

I participated in cleaning time and found out that classes are shorter tomorrow so we can have an extended cleaning time to get the school ready for the school festival on Friday and Saturday. (Hence why I have no classes to teach on Thursday - festival preparations.) The bus ride home was nice (sorry to be going so fast but I am short on time). I got home, ate a quick dinner then went to tutoring. I had a LOT of questions and I had brought some French materials for her. So we spent a pleasant hour. I then went to the grocery store on the way home (and my phone died which made me sad as I was msging my BFF), and then headed home. After I got home, I printed worksheets and pictures out for my lessons tomorrow, I got a call from and chatted with my head teacher (planned), and now I am writing this. Bruce asked me if I would stop by the French classes tonight to meet the students (since he asked me to fill in at times for him), but considering I already had two other meetings I declined. I also was heading in the opposite direction for those meetings anyway. I told him next week. Well, I hope you are having a good week thus far. XOXO, A

The big blue print says "Bu ru ga ri a" - Bulgaria. It's a mixed fruit yogurt drink. It's a little less viscous than I expected, but still very yummy! :D

Achievement Unlocked!

Insect count: small flying bugs, some kind of wasp (The wasp was flying around one of my classrooms - VERY distracting for me. I had to keep an eye on it. The second you take your eyes off a bug, that's when it attacks!)

T5B: 1) Even though I forgot my folder with my materials, Oikawa-s helped me get back on track. 2) I corrected 150 assignments today and only have 120 waiting for me in my desk tomorrow (well and I will receive 120 more at some point - plus 120 more tomorrow ... STILL!). 3) All four of my classes went well today. 4) I had a great breakfast and wasn't hungry until halfway through lunch. :D 5) I also created 3 new worksheets today.

Basal temp: 36.67 ~ this is the only one I'm not sure is accurate. I was told to take it before I did ANYTHING. Well this morning I woke up but thought I still had time to sleep. Since my sleep mask doesn't block out all the light sometimes I will put one of my hair socks across the mask. So I sat up to grab a sock and laid back down and turned on my fan. A few minutes after that my alarm went off. :/ Oops.

First: two stories I had forgotten from the last couple days. On Saturday when we were at Macdo (that's how they abbreviate McDonald's ~ mac-doh), I told the ladies my age. Muraki-shimai (Madoka's mom) exclaimed, "Naaaniii!? I thought you were 20!" Aw thanks! :D On Sunday, lol, Seiko-shimai (who gave me that beautiful fan from Hokkaido and is an older lady ~70s/80s) walked up to me and complimented me on my shirt and earrings matching. I was wearing a pair of blue flower earrings that my mom got me in France. Well to point it out on my shirt (which was my blue floral one), she traced one of the blue flowers. Right on my chest. LOL I was like... uh... exactly what is going on here!?

Well I told you about waking up, I got ready and actually had a little time before I had to leave so I straightened up my desk a little bit. Imagine how frustrated I was when I was on the bus and realized I had left my folder with my master copy (luckily only one class) in it and my schedule/planner. DAH! I was instantly stressed but then thought, "I can solve this." Oikawa-s had printed things out for me before (when I didn't need it), so I thought, all I have to do is ask him and he will do it no problem (it was for his class as well). I tried to send the file from my phone but google drive is iffy on my iPhone. So I told myself to chill and practiced some breathing exercises on the bus. I listened to some Motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and some other great tunes (Eagles, Bigbang singing in Japanese "Let Me Hear Your Voice" ~ Papa! Have you checked them out yet? Try "Fantastic Baby" and "I Hate This Love Song." I like them as much as, if not better than, Super Junior.) and it really helped me to calm down. I arrived late at the school so I didn't get to email it during the meeting, which made me a little antsy. However as soon as I got to my desk, I emailed that file right away. I then wrote down my schedule for the day (as my lesson book was at home) and explained the situation to Oikawa-s. Sure enough, he printed it right away and I was able to make copies. (the Mozart Horn Concertos are so great! ~ that's what I am listening to right now :D Well, it was Doobie Brothers, Dire Straits, Spiderbait, and now Mozart! I have the best tastes in music - thanks to my parents.) I got all my copies made for the day then gathered my thoughts at my desk (thought through my lessons and made sure I had all the materials I needed on my desk). Shortly thereafter a student dropped off his classes 40 essays about summer vacation. (I will correct all 6 classes' essays. That's 240 essays! Woo!) Since I was teaching first period I didn't touch them.

My first class went really well. I was teaching the second half of the personal history/autobiography lesson. We will do the first half next week - as I was informed these classes are behind Oikawa-s's class so we did it in reverse order. :) During the class, I asked Fujieda-s (oh yay! Death Cab For Cutie!) if it would be ok if we played thimbleful - a great idea from my mom yesterday. She said yes! Oh sweeeeeeet! I'm so excited! After that class, I got back to my desk and worked in earnest on the three worksheets I need for MM this week. I finished two of them and started brainstorming for the third (I'm super excited about it - it's about festivals and I'm going to teach them about Bastille Day! :D). I then had two classes to teach in a row.

The first class was, what I found out today, my first grade PE track class. (Finding that out explains their behavior and REALLY better equips me with the knowledge of how to approach them and their lessons. Dah!) The lesson went well though. :)

My next class was my third grade PE track class. I was crap at explaining the game I guess since they sat there and blinked at me. Then Oikawa-s explained the game in Japanese and then they all jumped up. I gave the first five bingos stickers. :D I'd like to think that motivated them, but who knows. Then I sat down on the riser at the front of the class since everyone was there and there isn't a spare chair in the classroom (like in others). I think I read my SLP wrong though because I thought I was only supposed to take 10-15 minutes, but maybe Oikawa-s meant HE was only going to take that long because he seemed surprised when I gave the class back to him. I was pretty embarrassed about that. THEN he asked me to give a sample sentence (in the meantime I was doing correcting since I have a GIANT stack of it) and I flubbed that up too. I picked something too hard. So he picked a different one. I felt REALLY badly. I kept apologizing but he waved it off. I have been heard to say, "I don't get embarrassed." That's typically true. If I fall down the stairs, ouch, but I will laugh. I told my students the story of me falling on my face off the bus with no shame! But THIS, misunderstanding and then not being able to come up with something on the level of the students on the fly... THAT was embarrassing. *sigh* Now if I can let it go. I still sometimes remember things like that and cringe and feel like making long distance calls to the US to apologize to people again. DAH! ~In fact I've been thinking this evening I should write him another note apologizing. I won't, that would be overkill! But I can't suppress the urge to do so. :/

After that ~ oh! I forgot to tell you about my breakfast. After that class I worked through most of lunch because I wasn't hungry yet. That was a pleasant surprise. Usually I'm starving when lunch rolls around. For breakfast I had a hard boiled egg, two garlic sausages, and a raisin breadstick with cream cheese. Something about that was the perfect balance. :D Oh also a little bit of drinkable yogurt (mostly to wash the taste of the proteins out of my mouth when I left my apartment). In any case, the last class I was teaching was the last class of the day so I finished my worksheets first. I was SLIGHTLY frustrated with the feedback I got from one of the teachers. He asked me to teach the (YAY MACKLEMORE! Imma take yo granpa's style!) students the kind of talk I use with my friends (contemporary English for teens essentially) and he told me I was wrong. Uh... wait what? Ok, but then he wanted me to switch to things I NEVER say. *facepalm* Sometimes he's funny and asks me about archaic English sayings (at least, they feel archaic.) For example, one day he asked me if we still say, "What's cooking good looking?" (With the g's yes) I blinked at him. "As a joke." LOL He really loves the Carpenters so sometimes he pulls phrases from their songs too. I recognize their origin (I love the Carpenters), but no.. we don't say those things since the 60s-70s. Sorry. Anyway, there's my rant. I fixed the worksheets, and they are sitting on my desktop ready to be printed for Wednesday (but since it's a little late I will print them tomorrow). It was REALLY fun to make that Bastille Day worksheet. I hope the students enjoy it. It's for my second grade PE class so .. hopefully it goes over well. I'm going to start with thimbleful! :D If I start with a game, then they listen to me. If I try to teach right off the bat, I've lost them. So ... YAY!

After all the worksheet creation, I worked on all the marking I have. As I mentioned above, I made a large dent in the stacks I have. I have more waiting for me tomorrow but it looks like I'm not going to have anything to do on Thursday. This marking was penciled in for that day since all classes are cancelled so the students can get ready for the school festival Friday and Saturday. It's a repeat of the grading I had to do before. I BREEZED through it all. These ones are taking longer because they required twice as much material and some of these papers are REALLY hard to decipher (figure out what the student is trying to say), but I still finished two stacks and was into a third plus two other stacks of grading I finished. Hashimoto-s commented as well. He said, "WOW! You are SO fast!" It makes me wonder what the old NS did. It's just like when I worked at the Boys and Girls Club. I was told by several people, "Wow! You are doing such an AMAZING job!" And actually I have been told since I left that I am missed. Yay competence and hard work! :D So ya, I have worksheets I need to make for Friday and for next week and two tests as well. However, since I will have all day Thursday I am planning on NOT lugging my laptop around until that day. It's heavy! lol

I taught the last class period, it went really well, and then I worked on marking (other than cleaning time) until it was time for me to leave. The bus ride home was nice (a/c is a beautiful thing ~ today was 3° higher than forecasted but with a record low humidity of 46% - and I'm grateful and I did well, but it was HOT). When I got home, I made myself some dinner and watched some Madoka. I was supposed to have tutoring but we changed it to tomorrow. So I took it easy. I MEANT to clean, but I worked ALL DAY (other than lunch) and I was/am beat. Feels AWESOME though. I put in a TON of work today. :D (Hence my title) Hope you all had a wonderful Sabbath ~ Jerod told me they talked about charity at church so hearing that caused me to start pondering charity and the theme of our Sacrament Meeting: gratitude. Two things I would like to improve within myself. My best to you all! XOXO, A

Omiyage from Nakata-sensei ~ the puffer fish one was a VERY fishy thin, crispy cracker. It was ... ok. The other one is pictured below:

AHAHAHAHAHA! Voldemort cookie!! :D

A plan set in motion

Insect count: only small flying bugs

T5B: 1) I got to talk to my family! 2) I got to go to church. 3) My mom told me I'm not forgotten at home. :,) 4) I got to msg my BFF. 5) I got two nice emails from a friend here in Japan that really made my day (yesterday and today).

Basal temp: 36.84 (yay? It went down but it's still up there - I wish I knew the significance of it all!)

I woke up early (I think the earliest I've ever woken on Sunday) since I was exhausted and went to bed early last night. I actually was glad to keep my sleep closer to the same rhythm. The summer really messed with my school sleep schedule. That being said, I haven't played "magnet desk" yet. (As I'm typing this I'm feeling strangely stressed. I don't know what makes me almost paralyzed with fear before the week starts. I mentioned before that it happened when I was teaching at Walden. It was, maybe, worse there because I taught Tuesdays and Thursdays. So that meant that twice a week I was terrified about the next day. All my students were stellar and I LOVED the staff and administration there. On top of that, I am a planner and typically had detailed plans of what I was going to teach. But there was something about standing in front of that first class. Once I got there, I snapped out of it and would just take charge. Here it's the same but luckily less often as teaching continuously (Mon-Fri) seems to make me immune to it once I get past my first class on Monday. It does mean that I have panic attacks on Sunday nights though. All the talking I do ~to myself~ has yet to have an affect. Sheesh. Sometimes I will feel trepidation ~ especially when I am teaching a new lesson for the first time ~ but this is different. I just don't like being so panicky - it makes my chest hurt and that's scary to me. :/ Still! I am remembered at home and I have a follower on my blog that turned out to be a friend. I was pleasantly surprised as I haven't seen her since she came to my reception. :) Anyway...) I got ready for church and then I got on my way.

It was hot outside but the breeze was nice. It's funny, here I have been saying thank goodness I brought a cool summer but in talking to the teachers at the school, they said this has been a very hot summer. All the rain has made it swelteringly humid. So though I only experienced one day at Morioka's high (35 - and it was in Akita!), I hear this summer has been super hot. I mean, I have felt it's been hot, but just like spicy foods: I'm not a good judge. LOL I am sensitive to the heat and completely not sensitive to spicy foods. :) When I got to church I was a little shaky and overheated, but the a/c kicked in pretty quick. I met the other new missionary: Elder Hakaraia from NZ. :) He's interesting. But he shared some stories that really touched my heart in Gospel Doctrine. The whole time at church I was just manic happy. I couldn't stop grinning. I love being at church. I also asked Fumie-shimai to give me a ride to church next week (my plan set in motion) since the elders have that other bike to give to me. She said great and penciled me in. :) She's so wonderful! I'm so glad for her help. She wrote me a very sweet note. It just boggles my mind how much she loves me. I love the members, my friends, and my students like crazy - but I also am the oldest of nine so I am perhaps a little overactive in my love, lol. Still I am blessed to be surrounded by such good people. I wish I could be better.

After church I got to skype family and it was fantastic! I got to see my Maman, Papa, Pony, Nod, JT, Josh, and Adri. It's been ...3 weeks? since I got to skype them and it just made me so homesick. It's so strange how two people have left from my office and gone home and another friend of mine is leaving Japan in a week and a half. I envy them and don't. I definitely feel like I was leaving things unfinished if I left now. (Don't worry Japan! I'm not leaving early. ;D) I spent a LONG time skyping them and ended up biking up at the hottest time of day.

When I got home, I took a cold shower (that was actually already planned but I NEEDED it too). Then I spent some time trying to watch a show. I had a hard time focusing though. I would watch 30 seconds, then pause and surf my phone, then watch the show another 30 seconds, then wander around my apartment... not sure what is going on in my brain but it feels like chaos up there right now. In any case, I need to cook myself some dinner and do dishes as I need them for my lunches this week. I will have to flog myself to do it as I really don't want to atm. Will someone tell me the perks of being an adult again? *sigh* Hope you all have a fabulous Sabbath! XOXO, A

Fabulous hair days must be documented

That space between the bushes and the pole is where that truck was (during the spider incident). The place where my bike is (from where I took the picture) is where I saw the giant spider on my arm. ARMageddon. Yep. I went there.

My mom and sisters cheering me up (since I was feeling esp homesick today)

I didn't even realize I was making faces too, lol

We are a beautiful bunch!

LOL Nod :D

Josh (and I have NO IDEA what I'm doing, lol)

My turn to make a face back

more faces

Saying goodbye - there was a love competition :)

 Oh and ps! I have only used 2/3rds of my data so far this month! I made it!! Not having classes the first 19 days of the month made a big difference. ;)

Busier than I expected, but yay!

Insect count: one HUGE one, small flying bugs, some ants

T5B: 1) I got to go to lunch with Yasue, the sister missionaries, and other ward members. 2) The elders stopped by and I'm getting a better bike! :D 3) I got to msg my BFF! 4) I got my laundry done. 5) I was able to get the rest of the gifts for my family (just in time it turns out).

Basal temp: 36.99 0.o It JUMPED up there!

I got to "sleep in," which was awesome! I say "sleep in" because I was still up by 8h30. I consider real sleeping in to be until 10 am. LOL, I took my basal temp and was very surprised by how high it was. I took a picture of my book so you can see how high the scale jumps. :/ Hopefully this will help the doctor figure out what is wrong and make my cramps stop! I've had horrific cramps since the 27/28th of July less on day. But using the 28th, that's TWENTY-SEVEN days of cramping. WAY TOO MUCH. Especially when it feels like kidney stones. It took me a while to accomplish anything though. I didn't get in the shower and start the wash until around 10 am. Since Fumie-s and Yasue were supposed to show up around 11h15 I figured I had time. Nope. They arrived when I was hanging my laundry. Doh! Luckily they were very kind and let me finish. (I didn't want my clothes to smell like mildew which happened last time I washed my clothes.) After that I went out and off we drove to go to lunch.

Remember that castle place I found in Morioka while searching for the pet store? (I took a picture - it's a karaoke place.) We went to lunch at the place next door: Osaka Ohsho. (Osaka is a city in Japan and Ohsho means "king" ~the one in chess) We had to wait a while for two sisters to arrive but in the meantime we chatted and I showed some funny pictures on my phone. :) When the other sisters arrived, we ordered. I asked about a small and the girl made a cupped palm. Well a cupped palm wasn't going to be enough, so I ordered the regular size (which was about $6). The regular size was HUGE. I couldn't finish it. Since they don't do doggy bags here, I left it on the table. I felt only slightly guilty. I would rather be healthy than cram my stomach full of food. We took pictures, and as we were leaving I gave Yasue a hug. She said something I couldn't hear (sorry Yasue!) but since she had her arm around me at the time I assumed it was something about my reduced circumfrence. In fact, when she hugged me it hit me that I am much smaller. I saw my face in the picture Gas-shimai took as well. Trippy. People have been telling me I've lost weight and I didn't SEE it until today. (As far as who was at lunch - I will label the picture :D) Then Shinoki-shimai had to leave and the sister missionaries as well. So 5 of us went to Macdo and got ice cream. Japanese ice cream is so good! I got a Sundae. And actually the Sundaes here are bigger than in America. Muraki-shimai asked me how big the sundaes were at Macdo in America and I told her smaller. She was shocked. LOL It's not about the portion in America, it's about getting the money for that portion. Although they might be bigger now - the last time I ate at McDonalds in the US was the morning Jerod and I flew to TX for Roy's funeral. (That was last year March.) Before that... probably when I was dating Drew. So 2008? We chatted, and I'm slightly embarrassed about this, about me. Yasue played translator since she speaks Japanese fluently and English extremely well (she's awesome!). After that we said goodbye to two of the ladies and Fumie-shimai and Yasue and I went shopping. Fumie-s kindly asked if there was anything I needed to get and as it turns out, I wanted to get the rest of those gifts. I told her I could take my bike, but she drove me and I'm so grateful. They didn't have EXACTLY what I wanted, but I found something good. :)

When Fumie-s dropped me off I was able to give her back her futons with much thanks and I gave Fumie-s and Yasue each fruit snacks from the US. :) I hope they enjoy them. I settled in to watch some anime and relax. Shortly after I had started Darker Than Black, my doorbell rang. ... What the!? It was the elders! Elder Norawong and his son (trainee) Elder Akagi. :D E' Akagi is from Draper. His father is third generation Japanese living in the US. So I put my sunglasses on and we sat outside and chatted for quite a while. They then left with a spiritual thought. As they were walking away, Elder Norawong said, "Hey! You want a new bike?" Do I!? (My bike's chain is rusty and often slips, the brakes are so-so, lol, and the thing is just generally in need of help ~ but I'm grateful to have it. It saves me a lot of walking!) So a week from tomorrow the elders will bring it to the church and I will have a new bike. They told me I had to get rid of my old one. My response: "I know! I will park it in front of this apartment (the empty one next to me) and if someone steals it, YAY!" They laughed incredulously at me. "And if it doesn't get stolen, any visitor I have can use it! :D" Elder Preston told me before he left that mountain bikes are about the only thing that get stolen here. Oh! Before that happened, a GIGANTIC bug (maybe a spider) was crawling across the fence. I averted my eyes and Elder Norawong bravely brushed it off the fence with his appointment book. *shudders* Also as we were talking, I kept taking my flip flops off to brush ants away from me.

After they left I finished that episode and now I am msging my BFF and writing this. My plans for tonight are grocery shopping, and some more relaxing. I'm glad I have tomorrow to rest and recharge as well. I was busier today than I expected. (Fumie-shimai and Yasue picked me up at 11h15 and we got back at 15h00 - I don't regret a second spent with them though. I actually read an article about introverts and I think that I am introvert. One of the things I really need is recharge time after being around so many people and I see a LOT of students during the week. :D) Goodnight from Japan and have a great weekend! XOXO, A

Starting at the left: Johnson-s, me, Hyoudo-s (a missionary), Shinoki-s, Yasue-s, Fumie-s, Muraki-s (Madoka-chan's mom), Eiko-s :D Gas-s (the other missionary) took the picture

Sisters Johnson and Gas - since I didn't get Gas-s in the other picture :)

Singing cactus on a wall we passed - cuz you know... Japan.

My basal temp chart tracker

"I came to show off"

Insect count: lots of big ones I ignored at the Deaf school ~ they are out in the hills and surrounded by orchards so they get a lot of big bugs! Eep! Plus the little flying bugs (like fruit flies but I don't have any fruit sitting out so I don't know from where they came) that I can't seem to get rid of

T5B: 1) I got to see my Deaf students and the faculty at CS! 2) I was able to reply to all my emails and messages on the bus so I feel more settled and caught up in general. 3) I signed a complete sentence (technically a question) on my own in JSL! :D 4) I helped my junior high boys feel validated as I knew about the things they loved. 5) I finished my work early at the school so I had lots of time to plan and get caught up on school things. 

Basal temp: 36.64 ~ I'm not sure if this is a good or bad sign. I also am not sure how accurate it is. I was awake a while before my alarm went off. :/ I was assuming I still had time to sleep, but I didn't. Guess we'll see when I take my temp tomorrow.

Last night I definitely slept better. I woke up only a couple times and though I woke up early, and my eyes felt welded shut, I was ok with getting up. Sort of resigned. And that's good as Friday mornings are my earliest mornings of the week. (My Friday bus comes 26 minutes earlier than my Mon-Thurs one does.) In any case, I left in a little bit of a hurry, but I was ok. I accidentally forgot something but it was a nuisance rather than a day-breaker. I got to the bus with a minute or two to spare, and it was suzushi (cool) out so mmm!

The bus ride is when I got caught up with all my emails. I had a couple emails that I had needed time to process. So it feels nice to be caught up. When I got off the bus, it was still cool out but the hike up to the school reminded me of the humidity. I made Kawai-s and another teacher laugh when I said, "Mushi suzushi!" I believe mushi means, from how I've heard it used, humid or wet or muggy. They will say, "Mushi atsui!" Atsui is hot... So ya. :D They laughed but didn't tell me I was wrong, so as far as I know it worked and they laughed at my triumphant face since I had come up with it on my own. ~ Also maybe the fact that it seems like a contradiction but isn't in Japan! Moist cool/humid cool. Yep. After that, I had forgotten how to sign summer (natsu) so I signed the spelling for it ~ the kana signs that is (na - tsu) and asked all in JSL how to sign summer! :D YEEHAW!!! After that I worked on correcting summer journals. Only a very were very difficult for me. They had the Japanese to one side so yay, but I could only read some of it. :/ Still, I was able to correct them with minimal help. Then I realized, with a start, that I was working on something I could do later when I had things to had to prepare for my lesson! I had a mini panic attack but it turned out I still had 20 minutes to work on things. -- Actually the panic came from thinking I was teaching third period and finding out I was teaching second. I freaked because I thought maybe I was in the process of missing class - but as it turned out, I had written down the correct time so I was ok. (Really if I had though about it logically I would have figured it out. 945 is WAY too early for third period when school starts at 850.) The important thing is that I got ready, finished correcting the journals and was a few minutes early to the junior high teacher's room. (:D I am learning so much JSL!)

My js lesson went really well. I had two boys and we were learning and practicing have, want, and play. I brought along pictures of a troll, a dragon, a monster, a lizard, a dog, and a cat. :) They were lots of fun. I made them feel validated as the teacher would turn to me and say, "Gangdam?" "Oh Gundam!" *writes it on the board. Then one boy said he had some sort of handheld gaming device. "It's either..." then I wrote, "Nintendo DS / PSP." He has a PSP. Then I was asked about Nerf - great day for me too! Oh - and the boy who had a PSP. I figured out he was saying he liked Bioshock so I wrote that up. :) It made me feel good that I was able to relate to them. :) I got to teach the JTE (Hashiba-s) about Nerf guns as well.

After that I stopped back by the js teachers' office and chatted with them for a bit and learned a couple new words. Oh man they spoil me down there - they make me feel like I'm the funniest, most important person to talk to ever! :D After that I went back to the high school room and talked to different teachers and administration and showed them pictures and video from my vacation and Sansa. Then I got some more planning done.

Eventually the time came for me to jet so I said my goodbyes and walked to the bus. As I was leaving the school, I got some video (for the audio) of the monsters around my school - lemme see if it will upload to here...

I got that after I had crossed the parking lot. So that is the road leading down (eventually) to the main road where I catch my bus. :) I should do some short walking tours of Morioka. (Thinking aloud.) As soon as I got off the bus, off I was to run errands. I had a TON to do, and I just wanted to get home to the dehumidifier, but I persevered! I went to the bank to pay my tithing, then I got money out of my account for my taxes and groceries. Then I checked the Daiso for something (no luck). I went by the bakery for something I had been craving yesterday but lacked the cash. Then I went down and paid my city taxes (those poor guys! I tried my hardest but I just didn't know what they were saying to me ~ but my taxes are paid up til the end of next month), then I went and grabbed a bus pass for next week as my cards will run out Wed/Thurs and it's just easier to run all my errands at once. All of that took me about 45 minutes. I can't believe I finished so quickly! And I was walking around the city - with my laptop in my purse and my indoor shoes in a bag. So I was very hot and tired by the time I got home. Still I managed to get home before I usually do. I love that I get home early on Fridays! -- One thing I forgot to mention - on the way to City Hall, I saw this guy fishing in the river. His fishing pole was SO LONG! I hope it shows in the picture:

Sorry it's hard to see the pole against the water - but it goes from him to the other bank in this picture ~ actual scale about half the length of the river. Seriously.

It was at least TWICE the length of other fishing poles I've seen. That's why I had to get a picture! After I got home, I got to msg my BFF, give Donut a snack (I told my boys about Donut - lol they were like, "Really!?"), eat some dinner, finish Code Geass, try to rest my migraine (ow, ow, ow), eat some popcorn, and get some work done. I had planned on doing laundry but I am going to wait for tomorrow morning so I can shower and then throw these garments I'm wearing in. (I still have two pairs of clean garments but I need to wash my work shirts - I decided it's not a tragedy if I have to wash more often in the summer. I would rather put on shirts in which I have not yet sweated.) So off to bed I go (stayed up later than I wanted but get to sleep in a little tomorrow). I'm excited because I have a lunch with Yasue, the sister missionaries, Fumie-shimai, and Shinoki-shimai planned tomorrow afternoon! YATTA! Take THAT loneliness! Sending you all love! XOXO, A

Big, fat worms!

(funny stories included)

Insect count: small flying bugs (I can't seem to get rid of them!), fat, dead worms

T5B: 1) My second time teaching that lesson that was a flop yesterday went MUCH better today! 2) It was hot, but I did better today than yesterday. (It's amazing the difference 1° and 5% less humidity can make.) 3) I got to teach some Gaelic, ASL, Spanish, French, and JSL to my students today. 4)

Basal temp: 36.73 - this is starting to get ridiculous, IMO. I again woke up with cold limbs (which I much prefer to sweat) and my temp is still going up!

First, I forgot three funny stories from yesterday. 1) In my sport class, when I had the students writing a few sentences to play a ladder game, one asked me, "Usso ok?" I TOTALLY misunderstood him. "Usso? Lie? Liar? Ok? What!?" LOL I didn't want to be the one to have to tell him that lying is morally wrong. He gave up after a bit. It only occurred to me a few minutes later when talking to another student what he had meant. I found out by one student being prompted by his friend to say he'd gone to France. I then followed with, "Usso ok." DING! Doh! So I went back to that student said, "Gomen! Wakatta! Usso ok!" LOL 2) Right after that boy had asked me about lies being ok, (and at this point I still didn't understand) I started giving examples to the student and his friends. I told them I went to Hokkaido and Sendai for vacation. His friend said to me, "Usso! Usso!" Me: "What!? That's true! I DID go there!" He just kept calling me a liar, lol. I can be a very serious insult in Japanese culture but knowing this student, I know he was teasing me. 3) In Suzuki-s's class, one of the charade verbs I did was "drink." I pretend to drink a glass of something and they just stared at me. I made a big show of swallowing, still blank faces. So I repeated. Then I started picking up glass after imaginary glass and drinking them. One of the students said something to Mr. S in Japanese to which he replied, "Iie, iie! Nominai." (I think.) Then he turned to me and said, "I heard you don't like to drink." I then said, "Nope! Zenzen. I don't drink." There was a lot of shock from everyone (but me) and then I followed that up with, "Yes! I sing karaoke SOBER!" Mr. S busted up big time and the students, I think, were laughing at his laughter as I'm assuming they don't know the word sober. (Not as a reflection of their character or anything - just obscure vocab at this point for them.) Good times.

I mentioned how my morning started. I had a slow morning just because I was tired. I was so sure I would sleep through the entire night but it felt like I was awake the whole time. My sleep was so restless, I woke up so often, that it felt like I was awake the whole time. So the night was simultaneously too short and too long. Grr. Oh well, try again tonight! I got ready for work, no hitches there, caught the bus and was on my way. The bus ride was nice - I was right under the a/c. When I got to school I was again in time for the beginning of the meeting. I also forgot to mention yesterday that we got three brand new student teachers. Our last three were all men and these three are all women. In Japan they only student teach for 3-4 weeks! I was shocked and when I explained that I had student taught for 3-4 months, the JTEs were shocked. LOL American students are not Japanese students, that's for sure!

After the morning meeting, I made my copies and mostly stressed about how my revised lesson would go. I was really excited about my new one though. Then I realized I didn't have some of my materials prepared so I set about getting those ready. When my adrenaline starts flowing, I get really shaky. That's part of what made my Tuesday morning so unpleasant. I was shaky, and my heart was pounding. It's as though I'm experiencing a hypoglycemic episode. For all I know, I actually am. I heard fight or flight halts digestion, reroutes energy to systems needed for fighting or running - but the thing is when I calm down, that empty, shaky feeling typically persists. So I try very hard not to panic. Well, here I was at my desk, panicking. GRRRR. I've gotten to practice my breathing exercises a lot this week! LOL At some point, it was time to go and off I went. (Part of my nerves come from the fact that this teacher, though a nice person, isn't very ... involved in the classroom.) -- The lesson went VERY well. Well, I didn't explain the game very well so I had to go around and show the students how to play it. :/ HOWEVER, all in all it was 100 times better. So I am feeling much better about teaching it to the other 4 first grade classes next week. Ah dang it! I just realized I left my lesson materials in my desk. :/ Guess I'm not planning lesson two this weekend. Shoot. I don't teach it until Wednesday, but I would have liked to have it ready to go to be looked at on Monday. :/ Oh well. All I can do is my best. I'm preparing some other new lessons tomorrow anyway for Monday. Sorry - back to today...

My next class was right after and I got to see the girl who saw me at Sansa. :D I learned her name as well. That class went very well (it's the one with those two boys who love ASL). It was fun to teach and everything went very smoothly. (Oh! That class has one of the boys who saw me at the train station as well. - I mentioned I saw him and he, like the other student, reacted like, "Huh? Who, me!?" I'm starting to wonder about their memory as I have a thing for faces and I know which students I saw!)

(BTW I'm typing this as I listen to Dire Straits. <3) After that I had a free period and then lunch. I spent that time correcting and making notes on the worksheets I collected from the two classes I had just taught (as well as cooling down). All in all I had 73? worksheets. It took some time to respond individually but it's important to me that the students know I appreciate their efforts and I will make some of my own. After that I only had a few minutes to wait until the lunch bell. Because of my panicking in the morning I was in dire need (no pun intended since I told you I was listening to Dire Straits...) of food. Then I was able to eat and it made me feel much better. I had to sort of stuff in the last couple bites of my veggies - but for only a couple, I ate them. Then it was time for crafts! Yesterday Kanamori-s and another teacher stopped by my desk to invite me to the PTA craft. So I went. :) It's for the school festival next week. I am required to attend - and would have chosen to do so regardless but probably not stayed as long - so I was excited to be involved. I entered the room and found out I was the ONLY teacher doing the craft. All the other women were Japanese mothers of my students. Kinda trippy for me. I tried to chat but I was WAY outta my league. They were very kind though. :) They kept saying how fast I was. My speed is a product of many things: I was teaching 6th period so I only had that one period free, I am fairly impatient, I couldn't be distracted by chit chat, I have done many crafts in my past, and (related to the last one) I know how to employ craft materials. When the bell rang, we were only halfway done so I was torn. But I had to go. I tried to explain as best as I could and I took off. --oh! Also I found out that that room has a/c! It was GLORIOUS. I don't even care why the PTA comes to the school, the way they are treated... count me in! LOL So when I went back out to teach it was swamp land. But I adjusted quickly and was excited to teach my next lesson.

In this class, I teach with Oikawa-s and I had written down 3 names and had been looking at them periodically to memorize them. One of the names (since I wrote it before the break) had lost a face. So while they were working on the read and run I asked Oikawa-s to match the face with the name. Got you now T! ;) It ended up being perfect though. For part 2, there were 4 questions. I went around and warned each boy that I would call on him and which question he would be asked to answer. Then for the fourth, I learned a new name for a girl who sits up front. :) It went SO smoothly. I felt like a genius for doing it. Then we did part 3 ... slightly disastrous as words I thought would be common vocab for them... just wasn't. Oops. In any case, we joked through that and I had them write their summaries. After that we played a Jeopardy type game. Two especially funny moments: (some background: The lesson is about Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin. The lesson was divided into four parts and so each jeopardy heading was for each part.) Y raised his hand to answer a 400 point question that was true/false (they LOVE t/f here) but I had written it in a clear-cut manner. "True or false, Harriet Beecher Stowe (and this was under part 4 - open book for the students) visited President Lincoln DURING (I emphasized that) the war." Y, after raising his hand shouts out, "F!" "Oh no! Sorry.." LOL Suddenly a million hands were up! "Oooh! Ooh! Oooh!" I let Oikawa-s call on someone since I was laughing and not about to say who had been first. LOL Then Y got to redeem himself in the second funny story. A team picked 100 of part one. The question was, "Who is the chapter about (I know, but if I said, "About who is the chapter written - there's no way they would be able to extrapolate meaning.)?" No hands... no hands... no hands. So I say, "Ok, a hint: she is a woman!" Finally a hand! "Catherine!" ... (Catherine is HBS's sister) "No sorry." Next hand, "Lyman Beecher!" ... (Harriet's father.) "No, sorry." LOL I tried to give more hints and finally Y raises his hand. "Harriet!" "Good - all three names?" Which he gives me and gets 100 points for his team (they actually ended up winning). LOL It was really fun to play with them and they REALLY enjoyed the game which made me feel very successful and just awesome all around.

After class I went back to my desk and suddenly remembered my craft! (Thursday-Friday there are only 6 class periods so I was worried they would be gone since school was over.) I dashed back to those cute ladies and the a/c. Everyone else was finished but they had left me the supplies I needed to get done. They gathered around me, clucking (I mean that in the best way possible - they're just so small and I had no idea what they were saying to me, lol), and helped me finish. As I was getting done, they asked me to be in a picture. :D So I may or may not be in the yearbook/newsletter! :D It was SO fun. They kept exclaiming how fast I was. I tried mightily to tell them it was because I was the oldest of nine and ya .. I basically spouted nonsense since I was trying to hurry and my brain had shut down. LOL Still, it was really fun and I believe I get to keep the craft after the showcase. I hope so! If not, at least I got a picture of it! After I helped the ladies clean up and went back to my desk. Suddenly I was pressed for time. I hurriedly finished some things I needed to do and then went to say my goodbyes. I wished Hashimoto-s a good weekend and then said goodbye to Moniwa-s and apologized for not having helped with cleaning time. I tried to explain in Japanese what had happened - he had seen me in the craft room before and his eyes definitely twinkled at me (I think he was laughing inside - but in a nice way - to see me with all those mothers) - but I ended up showing the picture. He was very nice about it, "Sugoi!" Aww! Thanks! I showed the picture to Hashimoto-s and Oikawa-s as well.  -- Ok one more story from before. When Kanamori-s told me about the craft she said they were made out of "Japanese word, Japanese word..." She finally looked it up, didn't know how to say it, so she showed me the dictionary. "Cocoon." Uh... When they told me that yesterday my brain said, "No way. Nooo way it's a cocoon. How weird would that be!?" ... It was a cocoon. To start I had to cut roasted, dead bugs out of these cocoons. 0.o Good news though. I survived. I just tried VERY hard not to look at those 3 fat, dead, brown worms. *shudder*

When I had seen my goodbyes I went to the bus stop. Luckily one of my BFFs was online and I had company on the way home and part of the time I was home. I'm so grateful for that! When I got home, I ate, and watched some episodes of Code Geass. I'm excited to see my Deaf kids tomorrow! :D I have some errands to run as well. Here's hoping that tomorrow is cooler! (Today's temperature went over the fore-casted high. - I can't remember if I said that already...) My love to you all! XOXO, A

last night's blue moon

my crafty-craft!! :D

my face - in case you forgot it, which DAME! ;)