Whatever Normal Is...

So, after my last post, things have more or less gone back to normal, or at least, as normal as things are around here.  Let's see if I can remember what I've been doing...

THURSDAY


I had Japanese in the morning, and man, it was COLD.  Also, it had been several weeks since I'd been to class thanks to the holidays and all, but I was able to get back on track pretty easily.  But I was so cold on my way home that I felt it was necessary for me to buy hot canned coffee from a vending machine.  (I LOVE Japanese vending machines.  Why don't American vending machines have hot drinks??)

In the afternoon, Carol, Becky and I went to lunch with one of Carol's students who was having a big birthday that Carol wanted to celebrate with her.  So we went to Casa Mia, of course.  I fail and didn't take a picture of the pasta and pizza we had, but the salad and dessert were super pretty!

It even came with smoked salmon sashimi!  Best salad ever!

Chocolate cake...mmmmm...

I spent the rest of my afternoon chatting on Skype, if I recall correctly, and then in the evening, our friend Michelle came to visit from Yokkaichi.  So we went to dinner, of course.  We went to Uretano Cafe, a cute little place I've been wanting to go to for a while but never had a chance to try before.

My "bacon" (actually ham) and potato sandwich.  Curry flavored!  The salad was amazing too.

My cafe au lait, which I got to assemble myself!  Super cute!

And because I fail, I didn't get a group picture of us...  But we had a nice time!  Michelle ended up spending the night at Becky's and my place since she had to be someplace in Tsu in the morning anyway, so other than the hour or so when I was teaching a class, I was hanging out and chatting with her.  A pretty nice day!

FRIDAY

My main task on this day was teaching three classes; I also sat in on one of Becky's classes that's twice a month that I might end up taking over.  And I also cooked pasta for myself?  And worked on something for our upcoming monthly event?  A relatively uneventful day.

SATURDAY

I didn't really have any plans on this day, and I actually never even went outside, haha.  But I did watch The Blind Side and write questions about it for our movie night this coming Friday.  I didn't have much else to work on, so I spent most of the rest of the day relaxing, talking to people online, and watching a drama.  Later that night, Carol came over and we kind of had an impromptu planning meeting, which was actually really good and productive.  Yeah, that's about it.  See why I haven't updated my blog in a while...?

SUNDAY

A busier day than the days before.  We had church in the morning, then went to lunch with Paul Ewing, our field director, who came from Osaka for some meetings here at the Center.  A little later in the afternoon, I met up with my friend Anna from Yokkaichi and went to eat at Uretano Cafe again.  This time I got a different, but equally amazing, sandwich.  Anna seemed to really like it too, so I call it a win!  After eating, we headed over to Carol's where, along with five other ladies, we had our first meeting for a Purpose Driven Life Bible study.  I've gone through the book before, but it's been a while, and some of the others in the group aren't Christians or haven't heard this material before, so I think it's gonna be really good.  The Ismaili family was kind enough to give Julia and I rides home, since it was barely above freezing yesterday!  There was actually snow on the ground in Tsu in the morning, although not really where I live in Edobashi, since we're really close to the ocean.  But other places in Japan got lots of snow yesterday from what I've been hearing!  But anyway...

MONDAY

Which would be today...  Another day with not a whole lot going on for me.  Becky's been busy working on a book report, so I ventured out to run a couple of errands and do some shopping.  When I went out though, I decided to take a short detour to go see the bay.  It's been too long since I've been out there.

I loved the color of the water today.

Who wears boots on the beach?  Amber does!

Not sure why this is here, but.

I love this.  Only like a 5 minute bike ride from the Center.  Amazing.

The river that leads to the bay.  It looks pretty unless you notice the trash in the sand...but other than that...

Anyway, eventually I went on with my adventure.  My first stop was Daiso, the hundred yen store, to pick up a couple of things.  After that was McDonald's, because I heard there was a new Texas 2 burger, and apparently a new limited time burger at McDonald's means that I have to eat there.

Looks like I'll be going fairly regularly...  Curse you, McDonald's...

Not as good as the original Texas burger, but still pretty good~  It had chili on it.

I did a little more shopping around at Saty and bought a couple of things, like Heat Fact undershirts (they're supposed to keep you warm- this is the knockoff version of Uniqlo's Heat Tech and it was on sale!).  I also made this totally necessary purchase.  (In my defense, I was wanting new slippers, and they were...  5% off...)

These are the greatest slippers of all time, okay.

Anyway, this weekend should be a bit more exciting, but that's what I've been up to!  

Oh, and since I've been asked what my regular schedule looks like, here you go.  A Week in the Life of Amber.  For the record, returnees = kids who have lived in an English-speaking country and are now back in Japan.  Classes with returnees usually involves reading and answering questions about a story or article, since they already have a decent grasp of English.  Other classes (currently, my two kids classes) are the more traditional English language learning, like grammar forms, vocab, etc.

Sunday:

-10:30: church

-second and fourth Sunday only: Crossroad bilingual worship/fellowship event at the Center at 7pm

Monday:

-day off

Tuesday:

-currently no classes, although it looks like I'll be taking over a once-a-month class at 3pm

-late afternoon: Center staff meeting (i.e. me, Becky and Carol talking about our upcoming events, classes, etc.)

-two Tuesdays a month: gospel choir practice

Wednesday:

-4pm: beginning English for kids.  One eight-year-old boy.

-6:30pm: middle school returnees.  Two girls.

-Mie University Bible study twice a month.

Thursday:

-10am: Japanese class.

-8pm: middle/high school returnees.  Three girls.

Friday:

-4pm: kids experienced (intermediate maybe?).  Two girls and one boy ranging from ages 8 to 12.

-6pm: kids returnee.  One third (?) grade girl.

-7pm: middle/high school returnees.  Two girls.  (These two speak excellent English.)

-first and third Friday only: movie night at 9pm.

Saturday:

-used to have a class with a university girl from 7:30 to 9pm, but she cancelled for the next few months.

-second Saturday of every month: Inspa Christian returnee event in Nagoya.

So yeah, that's basically it, for those who were curious.  I'll probably start up some new classes when the new term starts in April~  But nothing's set in stone yet, so we'll see what happens!