The Scene We're Looking At

So yeah, I'm obviously still very behind.  Let's see how much I can catch up with this post~  This is starting with last week, since my previous post went up until last Saturday.

SUNDAY


Busy, busy day.  We had church in the morning, then the young adults met for lunch, Bible study and prayer after church.  We had mochi that I imagine was left over from the mochi making event a couple weeks before.

I discovered that, as much as I love mochi, there is a limit to how much of it I can eat at one time...

After that was over, we went to the Center to prepare for that night's Crossroad, which was Talent Night.  Carol and I had already set up all the art and stuff that our students had given us, but there were some last minute things that needed to be done still, so I was pretty busy up until we started at 7.  Even though I felt a little stressed, things went fine once we got started.  There were various talents as part of our little talent show, including a lady who told a Japanese folk tale while also using sign language, a 12-year-old girl who danced hula (she's actually the number one kid hula dancer in the whole country of Japan- she was amazing! and she's actually one of my students!), Alicia and I performed a song, and a girl recited 1 Corinthians 13 in Japanese, English, and Albanian.  So yeah, some pretty cool stuff.

MONDAY

Mondays are our days off, and since Becky and I were free, we went to Bell City, a mall in Suzuka, the next town over (which is also home to a world-famous race track, the Suzuka Circuit, as well as the main Honda factory- there's your random trivia for the day).  First order of business when we arrived was naturally eating. So after considering some different options, we went to a bakery restaurant, which basically at this place, your lunch set comes with a drink and soup bar and a salad, and...people come around to your table frequently, offering you all kinds of fresh-baked bread!  It was kind of the best thing ever.

Cheesy omurice, corn soup, and you can see my first piece of bread, a croissant, in the background...

Melon pan, literally still warm from the oven, along with melon soda.  Double melon!

So after that we just shopped, and I bought a few articles of clothing, a couple of cd's, and some other random stuff.  It was a lot of fun, and a nice, relaxing day!  There also happens to be a Starbucks in that mall, so I got my third Starbucks drink in Japan.  An iced white chocolate mocha never tasted so good, you guys.

After getting back to Tsu, we met up with Carol and went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  It was kind of a family restaurant style, so it was nice and casual, and had a drink bar~

Sweet and sour pork, gyoza, mabodofu, and fried rice.  So good~

So yeah, it was just generally a nice day off.  :D

TUESDAY

I don't remember doing anything particularly interesting early in the day?  I worked on a couple of Center-related things, and then I came downstairs to have a salad lunch with Becky and Carol.  Later we had our normal weekly meeting, except we decided to hold it at Mr. Donut this week, because 1. we had coupons for free donuts and 2. unlimited coffee.  Best meeting spot ever?  I think so.  We did some grocery shopping after that, then went to eat.  My dinner set was actually kind of super amazing.

Udon, tenpura, sashimi, chawamushi (like a salty custard-y thing), miso soup, a couple other little things.  So good!

After dinner, Becky and I went to gospel choir, which was fun, as usual.  We started learning a couple of new songs and I really like them a lot.  :D  The thing about gospel choir is that the songs are simple and easy to sing, but they're also a lot of fun to sing, and everyone is super enthusiastic, so it's pretty great.  I don't think there are any groups quite like this in the States.

WEDNESDAY

Pretty normal early part of the day.  I started sort of babysitting/teaching a class for two little girls, ages three and (almost) six, whose mom is in Carol's Bible study at 3.  Little kids are not really my forte, but I think it's going okay so far!  After that I had my little boy for beginning English, then I ate a little something before going to my evening class with my two middle school girls, which is a lot of fun.  

After that was Alicia's going away party with the Mie University Bible study group.  We ate nabe (hot pot), and it was all kinds of fantastic.  We had a really nice time chatting and hanging out.  So much so, in fact, that the party moved into Becky's and my apartment for coffee and snacks and everyone stayed until like 1am.  It was pretty great.  :D  

It's making me hungry again, looking at this.  Those sausages were amazing.

Nice picture of me and Alicia.  :D

Saki loves nabe~

Not the best group shot ever, but yeah!

Juri-chan and Nao-chan giving Alicia her gifts.

Everyone wrote little messages to her~

THURSDAY

Ishikawa-sensei cancelled my Japanese class, so I was free to visit Carol's class in the morning, since I guess her students wanted to meet me.  It was a nice way to start out the day!  Then in the afternoon, the three of us went to coffee with one of Carol's students.  The coffee shop's name is らんぷ, and since it's kind of ambiguous about what that would equate to in English, we thought it was Lump, since that would kind of fit as a name for a coffee shop.  As it turns out, its name is actually Lamp.  Leave it to Japan to choose the option that makes the least sense.  Anyway, we had a couple of cups of coffee and dessert.  Their best dessert is evidently waffles.  I got the chocolate one, which comes with ice cream on top as well.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon running a few errands.  We had dinner at Mos Burger, and I had an awesome teriyaki burger that I failed to take a picture of.  I was also able to buy Arashi's new concert dvd, Scene, which, as I'm a huge Arashi fan, I was pretty excited about.  :D  (If you don't know who Arashi is, they're basically a Japanese boy band.  Wikipedia page here if you care.)  

Later that evening I had class, and after class Becky, Carol and I took Rieko-san and her husband Akifumi-san to Casa Mia for dessert to celebrate Rieko-san's birthday.  We had a really nice time chatting, and the dessert platter was, as always, amazing.  Actually, it was two platters, since there were five of us.

Probably the most amazing purin (pudding? maybe more like custard?) I've ever had.

FRIDAY

We went to lunch at the little French restaurant near us.  We walked since it was close, but man, it was COLD that day.  The coldness stands out in my memory I guess, haha.  But the food was amazing so it was totally worth the walk.

Some kind of lentil soup...and salad.  Yeah.

Chicken, breaded and baked in basil and some other herbs I think.  It was AMAZING.

I spent the rest of the day in class and working on setting up for the next day's Music and English Cafe.  The idea was that, by doing the work the night before, we wouldn't have to do it that morning.  Thank goodness we're all night people!  

SATURDAY

We ran a couple of errands in the morning and of course had a little more setting up to do, and then the Music and English Cafe, our monthly event, started at 1:30.  We had a pretty decent turnout, and it was a lot of fun! Carol served coffee or tea and a snack to everyone, and then Nao-chan and some other musicians from her Mie University band came to play music with us: three on the flute and three on the French horn.  The music was really cool!  So we started out with music, then shifted into English conversation time (which was more difficult for some people than for others lol), guided by our little Table Talker conversation starter cards.  We then played Bunko, which we unfortunately had to cut short due to lack of time, but I definitely want to play it again sometime!  And then there was some more music, and that was it.  It was a really fun event!  And I took some pictures, yay!

The final setup, before people started arriving.

I also took the opportunity to take pictures of our students' artwork that we posted around the chapel.  This is the photography section.

Traditional arts, like calligraphy and sumi painting.

My talent was this blog, lol.

One person made all this stuff.

The food room, pre-food.

Later, with food.

Everyone listening to the music.

After the event ended and we got everything cleaned up, Carol had class, Becky went to a friend's concert, and so I decided to go see a movie.  I don't usually go to the movies by myself, but I wanted to see a Japanese movie called Gantz and I wasn't sure if anyone would want to go with me, and since I had time, I went for it.  I really enjoyed the movie, and I actually didn't feel weird at all being by myself.  Afterwards I went to McDonald's for the new limited time sandwich, the Idaho Burger.  It was pretty fantastic.

Yes, that is a hashbrown.  Hence, Idaho.

After that, I met up with Alicia, we picked up some ice cream, and then we headed back to my place, where we chatted and watched my Arashi dvd together.  (I'm in the process of attempting to convert her into a fan.  I think I'm succeeding.)  Saturday was a really, really fun day.  :D

So, once again, I'm ending this post without being caught up.  But at least I'm getting closer?  :D?

For Now

So yeah...  The length of time between blog posts is getting longer and longer.  >_>  Sorry about that...  So let's start with last Tuesday, shall we?

TUESDAY


Becky was gone for most of the day and I didn't have any plans, so I ran a few errands of my own.  I went to the post office to take care of a few things, which left me feeling quite accomplished because I had a decently long conversation in Japanese as I was being asked questions about the package I was sending.  I also went grocery shopping, which taking my groceries home was a bit of an adventure since I biked to the store and I kinda bought too much stuff, but in the end I managed, so!  Then that night Becky and I had gospel choir, and one of the ladies who sometimes comes to Carol's Bible study came to think about joining, which was pretty cool!  Generally a pretty chill day.

WEDNESDAY


In the morning, Carol got her driver's license!  She is pretty excited about that.  So to celebrate, the three of us went to lunch with an older gentleman who was a student of Becky's dad and is a friend of ours.  The name of the restaurant is AIN...which I can't remember what it stands for right now but it's nonsensical English.  But anyway, the four of us had a nice time!  And the lunch set was pretty cool.  Carol and Becky got pasta, but I got hamburger with demiglace sauce~  The sets came with this little tray of different appetizer-type things.  Pretty nice!

Then that afternoon, I helped Carol with some gardening in our little garden just out front of the Center.  Then I was supposed to have class but my student didn't come, so the rest of that afternoon was pretty chill.  Then of course I had class that evening.  After my class, Becky invited me to go to Casa Mia with her and Paul, who had come from Osaka to help her with some financial stuff.  I'd already eaten dinner, so I got dessert: kabocha (pumpkin) tart.  It was amazing, and we had some nice conversation.  It was a pretty nice day!

THURSDAY

In the morning, I had Japanese, as per usual.  After class I think I cooked lunch?  I think this was the day I cooked, haha.  Just like chicken and carrots and stuff, but it was actual cooking.  Then, since Becky had been in Nagoya on Tuesday, when we normally have our staff meetings, we met on Thursday afternoon instead, planning out that weekend's events as well as looking a little further ahead.  Then I think we ate at the cutlet (katsu) restaurant, which was amazing as always, and then I had class, and I think that was more or less it.

FRIDAY

Thankfully I took pictures on this day, haha, so I can actually remember what I did!  Carol, Becky and I went to lunch at Coco's, where I got this awesome hamburger/katsu/curry combo lunch thing.

This lunch had a purpose besides just eating, however: Carol had offered to give Becky and I a kind of little seminar about teaching, especially me, since I'm still so new at it.  So she gave us some tips, tools and pointers, which were all really helpful!  After lunch, we ran a couple of errands, and then they dropped me off since I had class at 4.  The rest of the evening progressed as usual, with my other two classes at 6 and 7, and then we got ready for movie night!

This movie night was up to me, by which I mean I watched the movie, wrote the questions, and hosted the event.  This week's movie was The Blind Side, which I'd never seen but, as anyone who's seen it knows, is really good.  A guy from Becky's and my gospel choir group came with his wife- from their two hours away!  Pretty cool that he was willing to come that far.  Anyway, after the movie, a couple of girls who live in Yokkaichi, about half an hour away, stayed over at Becky's and my apartment, since it was too late for trains to be running.  It was fun hanging out and talking with them!

SATURDAY

This was a totally fun day!  At noon, Becky and I met up with our friend Noriko and we went to lunch at Karakatta, a Nepalese curry restaurant.  I didn't take pictures because I've eaten there before...but of course I can't find the post right now.  It's there though, trust me.  With pictures of super gigantic nan bread.  But anyway, after we ate, we picked up Alicia and went to karaoke!  Noriko and I had been talking about wanting to go to karaoke for quite a while, so we were excited that it finally worked out!  Karaoke always has a different feel depending on who you go with and what kind of music they like, but it's always fun.  :D Although at first the karaoke people tried to give us the lamest room ever...  It seriously had metal benches inside...  So we asked them to let us trade, which they did.  Yay.  :D  

 I know I look kinda weird with my bangs clipped back, but they weren't cooperating that day, so...  Also, no one knows what Noriko is doing...

That evening was the church young adult group's goodbye party for Alicia, who's leaving Japan next month.  

The kabocha soup (in the cups) was SO GOOD.

We played a game where you had to tear letters out of the newspaper to spell words.  Pretty fun!

It says "Thanks, Alicia!"

A pictionary-type game.  Apparently some people thought sleeping was a good plan...?

Alicia was forced to cut her own cake.  Everyone was like "You're so good at it!"  lol only in Japan are people praised for their cake cutting technique...

My, this looks like a lovely gift.

A lovely gift indeed.  Alicia will cut you.

Bonus: Mine and Alicia's purikura.  :D

So yeah, it was a fun party.  :D  Then after the party, I helped Carol set up for Talent Night (the next night's theme for Crossroad).  It was sort of a lot of work because we were hanging up the various pieces of art and stuff that our students lent to us, but it ended up looking pretty cool!  But yeah, busy day.

So yeah, obviously this does not catch me up to the present, since this party was almost a week ago...but in order to actually post something, and to keep this post from being as insanely long as my posts tend to be, this is it for now!  Maybe part 2 will show up sometime tomorrow.  We'll see~

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!